Belgium draw on ‘millions and millions’ of new fans ahead of Spain clash | 2026 World Cup

Rudi Garcia says Belgium have gained “millions and millions” of new fans after Donald Trump urged Fifa to overturn Folarin Balogun’s red card ahead of their last-16 victory over USA – and that they will take “amazing energy” from them against Spain in their quarter-final. The Belgian coach reiterated that he trusts his team, even though “everyone thinks we are going home”. Garcia, after all, has a not-so-secret weapon on the bench: when striker Romelu Lukaku is introduced, he said, the opposition will “shake in their boots”.

Trump boasted that he called FIFA to demand that Balogun’s sentence be suspended after the red card he was given against Bosnia and Herzegovina. But despite Fifa’s unprecedented decision to suspend the striker’s ban for a year, Belgium still beat the USA 4-1. At full time, the Belgian football association’s social media accounts announced “spoil this” and the players celebrated by doing the Trump dance. Garcia also confirmed that he had spoken to Balogun, telling him that he cannot be blamed for Trump’s lobbying or Fifa’s willingness to let it go.

That victory means Belgium will replace the USA against Spain at the Los Angeles Stadium, with most of the 80,000-capacity stadium likely to be occupied by American fans. But Garcia insisted that, far from fearing a hostile reception, which they had already won against the co-hosts in Seattle, his team was ready – stronger and more popular than ever.

“The conditions will be difficult as they were in round 16,” said Garcia. “We had 12 million Belgian fans and now, in the last few days, I think we have millions and millions behind us; they have joined our team and I think that will be good. I think that will give us incredible strength. I don’t know what [the atmosphere] it will be like on the field but we will focus on what we have to do. We have enough on our plate with the Spanish team.

“We know that we are playing one of the favorites and we know the strength that they have as people and as a team, which has been 15 or 20 years now,” added Garcia. “They are the best when it comes to handling the ball and we know they haven’t conceded a goal yet but the statistics are there to be broken and we will do everything possible to score a goal if not we will be sent packing, we are the team in second place with the most points in the World Cup everyone is talking about going home but we can do it.

“Perhaps others are discovering our team now but I know them by heart. I know their nature and what they can do. The quality of the team is not shown when things are swimming; it is seen when we are in hot water. When we are facing Senegal, a team that should not have finished third in the group, but had France and Norway, we managed to pass. I have two players who start and one game that starts and one. I have one of the best strikers of all.

That striker was sitting next to Garcia, who joked that Lukaku was just playing as a substitute and would start. The two explained the role played by the top scorer in the country after a season in which he could not start a single game for Napoli.

“We had a lot of discussions. When he comes, the opponents are shaking in their boots, they are very worried,” said Garcia, and that has been confirmed.

Although the 33-year-old has started one game in this tournament, he has scored three goals and provided an assist. He scores a goal every 50 minutes played, including one against the US, and his total with the national team is an incredible 93 goals. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Ali Daei (Iran) and Sunil Chhetri (India) have others. Lukaku has it he has scored at a faster pace internationally than Ronaldo and Messi.

“I had a conversation with the coach in April and he said I should prepare myself for a certain role,” said Lukaku. “I said ok, here we are, everything is fine, we will continue like this, we have prepared ourselves well physically, mentally and mentally. I know that I am in this situation because this year was very difficult. The coach visited me and we talked for two hours. I know my role in this tournament would be crazy as I only played 64 minutes. [for Napoli] to start the whole game. It can be self-destructive. It’s all about the team. I have to play with my head again.

“When you get far you can’t just play to go home,” added Lukaku. “We need to play a perfect game tomorrow.”