Pochettino Says Politics Overshadowed USA Exit

Belgium’s players danced. Their official account posted two words on social media. And a Liberal Democrat leader thousands of miles away in London called for the head of world football’s governing body. The USA’s World Cup ended in Seattle with a 4-1 defeat to Belgium, but the story that followed the final whistle had almost nothing to do with the scoreline.

Charles De Ketelaere scored twice in the first half, Hans Vanaken added a third and Romelu Lukaku a fourth, sending Belgium into a quarter-final against Spain. For two days beforehand, though, the build-up had centered on a single red card, a phone call from Donald Trump, and questions over whether FIFA had bent its own rules for the tournament’s co-hosts. Mauricio Pochettino, the USA head coach, left the arena disappointed not by his team’s display but by the noise around it.

By the time the final whistle went at Lumen Field, the football itself felt almost secondary to everything that had built up around it. A World Cup that the United States had helped stage on home soil ended for the hosts not with a debate about tactics or selection, but with a Belgian celebration aimed squarely at the American president and the sport’s global governing body.

Belgium’s Rout Ends USA’s Run

Belgium controlled the last-16 tie from the opening whistle. De Ketelaere’s double put the game away before half-time, and Malik Tillman’s reply for the USA barely interrupted the momentum before Vanaken pounced on a defensive mistake and Lukaku added a fourth in stoppage time. It was Belgium’s most complete performance of the tournament, and it arrived with the American hosts under a level of pressure that had nothing to do with tactics.

Balogun’s suspended ban had been the story of the two days leading into kick-off. He was sent off in the USA’s previous match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a game in which he had also scored, and the automatic one-match ban that followed would ordinarily have ruled him out against Belgium. FIFA’s decision to suspend that ban meant he started the last-16 tie after all, only for his team to be beaten comfortably regardless of his presence on the pitch.

Belgium’s Players Mock Trump and FIFA

The build-up to the match had been dominated by FIFA’s decision to suspend the automatic one-match ban that followed Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a call that let the USA forward play against Belgium after all. Trump has confirmed he personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the suspension, and on Monday UEFA said FIFA had crossed a line and put the integrity of the game at stake by allowing it.

Belgium won anyway, and celebrated pointedly. Several players mimicked Trump’s trademark dance moves after their fourth goal, while the team’s official X account responded to the reversal of Balogun’s ban with two words: “Overturn this.”

Nicolas Raskin said the off-field noise had given his side extra motivation. “A lot has happened off the pitch over the last two days,” Raskin said. “There was a sense of injustice within the squad, and we were determined to respond on the field.” Captain Youri Tielemans echoed the point after the game. “We told ourselves we had to respond on the pitch. That’s what we did,” he said.

Neither player elaborated on what exactly had been said within the squad in the two days between FIFA’s ruling and kick-off, but the message from both was consistent: Belgium had turned the row into fuel rather than a distraction. The scale of the win, and the celebrations that followed it, made clear exactly who the players felt had doubted them.

Pochettino: Politics Overshadowed Our Exit

Pochettino was asked afterwards whether the controversy had affected his players. His answer separated the football from everything around it. “It didn’t affect our performance. It’s not an excuse. It wasn’t our day,” he said. “But in a personal way, what is the point to insult or receive a lot of bad messages?”

He went on to explain that team selection was never in his hands once FIFA made its ruling. Applying the ban and pursuing any appeal was a matter for the federation, Pochettino said, adding that his own job was to prepare the team. Once FIFA cleared Balogun to play, having him available was not a problem.

His frustration was aimed at how the story had been handled beyond the pitch rather than at the result itself. “I feel disappointed with too many people. They put politics and manipulation, talk about ethics and integrity first. If we talk about the history of this game, I am disappointed in a personal way,” he said.

Balogun and Ream Reject Excuses

Balogun himself declined to make the controversy about him. “I accepted the decision when I was given the red card, and I accepted the decision when I was told I was allowed to play,” he said. “I didn’t have any involvement in the process, and that’s not something that has anything to do with me personally.”

Defender Tim Ream gave a similar answer when asked if the row had been a distraction. “No, it had no impact. We’ve done a good job with this group of allowing outside noise to be outside noise. It’s got nothing to do with us as players and getting ready for games,” Ream said. “It’s one of those things. That’s the world we live in. We were fully focused on us as a group and as a team and fully focused on the game and not really worrying about what was being said or debated in the outside world.”

Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia said Balogun had come to speak with him after the final whistle. “I really liked that. It’s not his fault, he’s not the one to blame and that’s what I told him,” Garcia said. Asked whether the controversy had shaped his own team’s preparation, Garcia insisted his focus had stayed on the game plan rather than the opponent’s team sheet. “Regardless of the US starting line-up, what really mattered to us is our game plan,” he said. “The group is very mature.”

Infantino Faces Calls to Resign

The political fallout reached well beyond the two dressing rooms. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Infantino should step down over the decision to let Balogun play. “Infantino must go,” Davey said. “No matter where it is held, the World Cup belongs to the fans.”

Infantino has shown no sign of considering it. He has held the FIFA presidency for ten years and stands for re-election next year, with the African, Asian and South American confederations already backing him again. Those three confederations alone hold 111 of the 211 votes cast by FIFA’s member associations, leaving Infantino close to a guaranteed path back into office, most likely as the only candidate on the ballot.

FIFA has said its disciplinary committee operates independently and that Infantino played no part in the decision to suspend Balogun’s ban. He watched the USA’s exit from the stands in Seattle, one stop on a tour of matches across the US, Canada and Mexico that has seen him travel between host cities in a jet provided by Qatar Airways. The image of the FIFA president touring the tournament while the row over his organization’s own disciplinary process dominated the build-up to a knockout game will not have been lost on his critics.

What Comes Next for Both Sides

Belgium travel to Los Angeles to face Spain in the quarter-finals on Friday, arriving with the belief that adversity brought the best out of a squad that had looked far less convincing earlier in the tournament. Garcia’s side scored four goals against a co-host nation in front of a raucous home crowd, a result that will do plenty to settle any nerves before facing the European champions.

For the USA, the tournament ends at the last-16 stage, the same round at which they exited in 2022. Reaching the knockout rounds as co-hosts, with the pressure and scrutiny that came with it, will be viewed by some as progress and by others as a missed opportunity given the platform. Pochettino’s contract situation and the composition of his squad heading toward the next cycle will be picked over in the coming weeks, but for now his players have made clear they want the conversation to move away from red cards and phone calls and back onto the football itself.

For a tournament being co-hosted by the United States, the manner of the American exit leaves an awkward taste. Belgium move on to face Spain with the extra edge of feeling wronged and vindicated in the same week, while the USA are left to separate their own performance from a row that overshadowed it. Pochettino’s players insist the two were never connected on the pitch. Whether that argument holds up away from the cameras is a different question entirely, one that FIFA, not the USA dressing room, will now have to answer.