{"id":534332,"date":"2026-07-10T07:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/534332\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T07:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:44:17","slug":"belgium-take-strength-from-millions-and-millions-of-new-fans-before-spain-clash-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/534332\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium take strength from \u2018millions and millions\u2019 of new fans before Spain clash | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rudi Garcia has claimed that Belgium have got \u201cmillions and millions\u201d of new supporters after Donald Trump lobbied Fifa to overturn Folarin Balogun\u2019s red card ahead of their victory against the USA<\/a> in the last 16 \u2013 and that they will take \u201cincredible strength\u201d from that against Spain in their quarter-final. The Belgium coach also insisted that he has faith in his team, even though \u201ceveryone thinks we are going home\u201d. Garcia, after all, has a not-so-secret weapon sitting on the bench: when striker Romelu Lukaku is introduced, he said, opponents \u201cquake in their boots\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump boasted that he had phoned Fifa<\/a> to get Balogun\u2019s punishment put on hold<\/a> after the direct red card<\/a> he was shown against Bosnia and Herzegovina. But despite Fifa\u2019s unprecedented decision to suspended the striker\u2019s ban for a year, Belgium still defeated the USA<\/a> 4-1. At full-time, the Belgium football federation\u2019s social media accounts declared \u201coverturn this\u201d<\/a> and players celebrated<\/a> by parodying Trump\u2019s dance. Garcia also confirmed that he had spoken to Balogun, telling him he could not be blamed for Trump\u2019s lobbying or Fifa\u2019s willingness to cede to it.<\/p>\n

That victory means Belgium<\/a> will take the USA\u2019s place against Spain at Los Angeles Stadium, with the immense majority of the 80,000-capacity stadium likely to be occupied by American supporters. But Garcia insisted that, far from fearing a hostile reception, which they had already overcome against the co-hosts in Seattle, his team was ready \u2013 stronger and more popular than before.<\/p>\n

Romelu Lukaku is put through his paces at Belgium training. Photograph: Dirk Waem\/Belga\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions will only be as difficult as they were in the round of 16,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWe had 12 million Belgium fans and now, over the last few days, I think we have millions and millions behind us; they have joined our ranks and I think that will be great. I think that will give us incredible strength. I don\u2019t know what [the atmosphere] will be like in the stadium but we will concentrate on what we have to do. We have enough on our plate with the Spanish squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we are playing one of the favourites and we know the strength they have as individuals and as a collective, which has been the case for 15 or 20 years now,\u201d Garcia added. \u201cThey are the best when it comes to possession of the ball and we know that they have not conceded a goal but statistics are there to be broken and we will do what we can to score. If not, we will be sent packing. We are the second highest scoring team at the World Cup<\/a>. Everyone is talking about us going home but we can do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe some are discovering our team now but I know them off by heart. I know their character and what they can do. The quality of the group is not shown when things are going swimmingly; it is shown when we are in hot water. Against Senegal, a team that should never have finished third in a group, but had France and Norway with them, we were able to get through. I have two XIs: one that starts the game and one that finishes it and we have lots of qualities on the bench. I have one of the best strikers of all time there.\u201d<\/p>\n

That striker was sitting alongside Garcia, who joked that Lukaku was just pretending to be a substitute when actually he was going to start. The two men explained the role played by the country\u2019s all-time leading scorer after a season in which he was unable to start a single game for Napoli.<\/p>\n

Lukaku and Rudi Garcia during a press conference. Photograph: Alex Pantling\/FIFA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had lots of chats. When he comes on the opponents are quaking in their boots, they are much more worried,\u201d Garcia said, and that has been borne out.<\/p>\n

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Although the 33-year-old has started only one game at this tournament, he has scored three times and provided an assist. He is running at a goal for every 50 minutes played, including one against the US, and his total with the national team is an astonishing 93 goals. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Ali Daei (Iran) and Sunil Chhetri (India) have more. Lukaku has scored at a faster rate internationally than Ronaldo and Messi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a chat with the coach in April and he said I had to be prepared for a certain role,\u201d Lukaku said. \u201cI said \u2018OK\u2019 and here we are. Everything is going well and we are going to continue like this. We are well prepared physically, mentally and tactically. I know that I am in this situation because this has been a very hard year. The coach visited me and we talked for two hours. I know my role for this tournament. It would be crazy, having played just 64 minutes [for Napoli] to start every game. It would be self destructive. It is all about the team. I have to play with my head as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get this far you\u2019re not going to just play to go home,\u201d Lukaku added. \u201cWe need to play the perfect game tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rudi Garcia has claimed that Belgium have got \u201cmillions and millions\u201d of new supporters after Donald Trump lobbied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-534332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}