INGLEWOOD — On Monday, Belgium eliminated the United States from the World Cup in the Round of 16.
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Four days later, following a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Spain, the Red Devils can empathize with the Americans.
For the vast majority of the 48 teams in the expanded World Cup field, elimination is inevitable. Only eight nations have hoisted the World Cup trophy, and neither the U.S. nor Belgium will get to add their names to the list this time around.
Seeking to build off the momentum of its decisive 4-1 win against the U.S. in Seattle, Belgium played heads up with 2010 World Cup champion Spain.
“Unfortunately, the stars weren’t aligned for us this evening,” Belgian head coach Rudi Garcia said.
Belgium lost its captain Youri Tielemans to an injury during warm-ups. Garcia was forced to sub-off its veteran goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the 72nd minute. And Kevin De Bruyne, their former English Premier League star in the midfield, had to come off in the latter stages of the match.
“There were too many things,” Garcia said. “The ducks just weren’t in a row.”
Margins are especially tight when it comes to distilling World Cup pretenders from contenders.
Even a soccer-mad country such as Spain, which boasts several of the finest players on the planet, has only reached the World Cup semifinals twice. In 2010, the Spaniards broke through for their lone title, making them the latest nation to join the exclusive club who can lay claim to being the best in the world.
Belgium’s best finish was third in 2018 following its second-ever semifinal, and in 2026 Garcia’s squad remained notable for what was left of its “Golden Generation,” including Courtois, De Bruyne and forward Romelu Lukaku.
In what he said would be his fourth and final World Cup, Courtois, a mainstay with Real Madrid, suffered a muscle strain and had to be pulled in the 72nd minute for Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens, who let a shot escape his control in the 88th minute that Spain pounced on for the game-winner.
Against the U.S. in the last round, Courtois became the first Belgian to reach 20 World Cup appearances. The 34-year-old is the third goalkeeper in the history of the competition to reach that milestone, but unlike German Manuel Neuer and France’s Hugo Lloris there never was a World Cup trophy to head home with.
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“I was lucky enough to play in four World Cups, but I’m not worried for the team,” Courtois said. “The future looks bright.”
Reaching the World Cup is little more than a dream for most players and countries. Getting to the final match borders on the impossible.
“We could have done better,” Courtois said. “We know Spain is a team who is going to dominate. We knew we would suffer and this is what we did.”
When the U.S. went out earlier this week, much of the post-exit conversation focused on what had to happen inside the country for the team to take its next steps. A CONCACAF nation has never won the men’s tournament before. European nations have, of course, and for the richly-skilled Belgium that next step has proven tough to come by, even over the past four cycles that featured several of the game’s modern stars.
Falling short against Spain, Belgium can head home feeling as if it had a fantastic tournament, defender Brandon Mechele said.
There isn’t a team sport with more global parity than soccer, but clearing increasingly high hurdles and unlocking new levels of achievement remains extremely challenging.
“We came up against a team that played to its standards,” Garcia said of Spain, which advanced to face France in a semifinal on Tuesday in Dallas.
Garcia believed his youngest players would learn from the experience, and shared his disappointment for the aged-out generation that gave so much to the Belgian cause over the past four tournaments.
“It’s a shame because I feel everyone deserved to go far in this World Cup,” Garcia said. “But what matters at the end of the day is the result. We weren’t far from going into extra time.
“Given what we were able to do this evening, we had what it took to beat Spain and eliminate them, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”