"Everyone wanted them to be eliminated." That's Thomas Meunier — 83 caps, three World Cups, no filter — on the atmosphere surrounding Belgium's Round of 16 win over the United States this summer. And he's not wrong to say it.
The backdrop: Folarin Balogun received a red card during the USMNT's 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering an automatic one-match ban that would have kept him out of the Belgium game. Then Donald Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Then, hours before kickoff, Balogun was suddenly available. Then Trump confirmed he'd made the call. The sequence wasn't subtle.
Belgium won 4-1. Whatever goodwill the co-hosting nation had built up evaporated somewhere between that phone call and the final whistle.
FIFA's credibility took the real hit
Meunier was careful not to go after Balogun personally — the 25-year-old Monaco striker was a passenger in a political decision that went well above his head. The Belgium defender's frustration was aimed squarely at FIFA and what he sees as politics bleeding into sporting integrity. That's a harder argument to dismiss.
The Royal Belgian Football Association didn't stay quiet either. They released a statement at the time questioning the ruling, pointing to a contradiction in the FIFA Disciplinary Code. Now, two months on, RBFA president Pascale Van Damme says their "questions remain unanswered" — and the association is pushing for the Balogun case to be addressed at the next FIFA Council meeting on October 15.
The RBFA has also said it cannot support Infantino's bid for another presidential term. That's a significant political move from a major football federation, and the Balogun episode is clearly part of the calculus — though Infantino's botched plan to sell minority World Cup stakes to private investors hasn't helped his standing either.
Belgium moved on. The questions didn't.
For what it's worth, Belgium couldn't capitalise on the narrative advantage. They beat the USMNT 4-1, then lost 2-1 to Spain in the quarterfinals — Spain, who went on to win the tournament. So Belgium's grievances didn't cost them the World Cup. Spain did.
Meunier, to his credit, praised the United States for its facilities and World Cup infrastructure. This was never about the country. It was about a governing body that looked like it bent its own rules under presidential pressure — and then refused to explain itself.
Van Damme put it cleanly: "We request the necessary explanations and, at the same time, wish to explore where improvements to the current processes are possible." October 15 is the date FIFA has to actually answer for it.
