Belgium gets serious for quarterfinal with Spain
No more playful dances. No more taunting social media posts. Belgium is done celebrating its victory over the host United States and hard at work on extending its World Cup run on American soil.
The Red Devils trained in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday with the memory still fresh of their 4-1 thrashing of the Americans in Seattle on Monday. After surviving a test from Senegal with a thrilling comeback and then thoroughly dominating the US in its first two knockout games, Belgium faces its toughest challenge yet against unbeaten Spain in the quarterfinals on Friday. But this tumultuous World Cup run has sparked something in this Belgian team, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes.
“We gained a lot of confidence because we knew it was going to be a hard game against America,” Courtois said at the LA Galaxy’s suburban stadium. “They’re obviously the home team with a full stadium (that’s) with them, so it’s nice to perform in a good way defensive, offensively, and just play our game.”
Belgium went into the US matchup with a world of indignant motivation after star American forward Folarin Balogun’s one-game red-card suspension was curiously lifted by FIFA. The Red Devils took it out on an outclassed American team and then celebrated gleefully, both on the pitch and in the dressing room. In the most viral moment, many players did the simplistic dance associated with US President Donald Trump and performed by numerous athletes across the sports world in recent months, including American star Christian Pulisic.
Belgium left back Diego Moreira smiled slightly when asked about the meaning of doing the dance after Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask for a review of Balogun’s red card. “There are different ways to celebrate different goals,” Moreira said through an interpreter. “You can do different dances, and that’s what we’ve done. We just celebrated the win after the game.” Courtois said he wasn’t in the dressing room because he was at doping control, so he couldn’t comment on the dance. The Red Devils say they've put that cathartic evening behind them after landing for their second game of the tournament to be played at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area.
