Belgian newspapers after the exclusion of America. Hello, Donald.

The controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun shaped mainstream media reports in Belgium, which celebrated its national soccer team’s crushing 4-1 victory over the United States in the 2026 World Cup round of 16, citing US President Donald Trump and his conversation with FIFA president Gianni Infantino that led to the American striker’s pardon.

The French-language newspaper Le Soir headlined on its print and digital front pages. “Hello Donald” as he announced the news with a picture of Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku celebrating after scoring the last goal of the game, putting his hands over his ears before imitating Trump’s famous dance with his teammates.

“Het Latest News” newspaper asked: “What will Donald Trump think of this?”, sarcastically referring to Lukaku’s celebration, which has come as a reaction to American political interference in the affairs of the tournament.

According to La Libre newspaper, Trump’s “intervention” was useless in a game in which the Belgian team showed its “best” against the USA, while the Flemish newspaper De Standaard confirmed in its analysis that “however decisive FIFA’s decision was, the Red Devils knocked the USA out of the tournament with the same force”.

Belgium launched a scathing criticism of Trump and the United States, using Lukaku as a pretext to mock political interference to save the American national team from relegation.

Away from the media, the message published on the account of the Belgian Football Association

Belgium are savoring the victory over the USA, but have not forgotten their quarter-final opponent, Spain, in next Friday’s match in Los Angeles, as noted by Flemish Public Television.

The network notes that Spain have “been invulnerable so far” and had “easily beaten” Austria and then Portugal before facing the Red Devils, adding that Lamine Yamal represents an “unpredictable force”, but “things haven’t gone well” for Spain, who started the tournament “surprisingly poorly” with a draw against Cape Verde.

French-language public broadcaster RTBF expects Rudy Garcia’s side to “defy the statistics” against Spain, a team against whom “Belgium don’t always do well”.

According to the report of this TV station, the Belgian national team has met the Spaniards 23 times, winning 6, drawing 5 and losing 12, of which 5 were in the last five matches. To find the last victory for Belgium, it goes back to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, when the Red Devils beat Spain on penalties.