USA destroyed by Belgium in World Cup exit after Folarin Balogun saga | Football | Sport

The USA are out of the World Cup after being comfortably beaten 4-1 by Belgium. The build-up was marred by the contentious saga around the suspension of Folarin Balogun.

Charles De Ketelaere got the ball running for the Belgians when he tapped in the first goal from close range after only nine minutes. The hydration break proved to be a momentum shifter for the USA, who equalised through Malik Tillman’s deflected free-kick after 31 minutes.

However, the USA home crowd had barely stopped celebrating that goal by the time they were behind again. Leandro Trossard whipped a cross onto the head of De Ketelaere who nodded in past USA goalkeeper Matt Freese.

The USA looked for another equaliser, but their tournament was all but ended in the 57th minute when Freese got caught 30-yards off his goal-line by De Ketelaere, who stole the ball of his toes and prodded the ball to Hans Vanaken, who passed into an empty net from 25-yards.

At 3-1, Balogun, whose contentious inclusion despite his original suspension caused so much ire, had little impact in the game, aside from a one-on-one which forced Thibault Courtois into a strong save when the score was 3-1. That was about as threatening as the hosts got while 3-1 down.

Belgium’s fourth goal came as a result of more poor defending from Pochettino’s side. They tried to play around the back, but Chris Richards of Crystal Palace ended up giving the ball away to Romelu Lukaku.

The ex-Manchester United and Chelsea ace gleefully picked up the pieces and emphatically fired into the far corner to make the result a rout. They will face Spain in the quarter-finals on Friday July 10.

For the USA, they will have to lick their wounds while also tolerating more inevitable external noise generated from the saga around Balogun not serving his suspension.