The controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun dominated the coverage of the main Belgian media, even in the midst of his team’s resounding 4-1 victory over the United States, in a match marked by references to President Donald Trump and his intervention before Fifa.
“Hello, Donald?” headlined the French-speaking newspaper Le Soir in both its print and digital editions. The cover was accompanied by an image of Romelu Lukaku celebrating his goal with a gesture that imitated, along with his teammates, Trump’s characteristic dance.
Along the same lines, the outlet Het Laatste Nieuws ironically: “What will Donald Trump think of this?”, after the American defeat.
For La Libre, the The president’s “intervention” turned out to be “useless”, since Belgium showed its best version against a rival whom it clearly surpassed. For his part, De Standaard stressed that, beyond the controversial decision of Fifa, the Red Devilss “sent America home with authority.”
The echo of the case also spread to social networks. The official account of the Belgian team on
While celebrating the victory, Belgium is already looking towards the quarterfinals final, where they will face Spain on Friday in Los Angeles. Flemish public television VRT highlighted that it will be a more favorable schedule and warned about the strength of the Spanish teamwhich he described as “impenetrable” after his victories against Austria and Portugal.
The same media pointed out Lamine Yamal as one of the main threats, describing him as “an unpredictable fury”, although he recalled that Spain had an irregular start with its draw against Cape Verde.
For its part, the French-speaking channel RTBF anticipated a complex duel for Belgium, which will have to “defy the statistics” against a rival that has historically been adverse to it.
According to their data, both teams have met 23 times, with a favorable balance for Spain: 12 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses for Belgium. The last Belgian victory dates back to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, when they eliminated Spain in a penalty shootout.