Did they use it as a motivational lever? The Belgians looked quite vindictive as their 4-1 win took shape. On their radar: FIFA’s decision to overturn the suspension of opposing striker Folarin Balogun, who was able to play in this World Cup round of 16 despite a red card received in the previous round.
Pressure from the Donald Trump administration on FIFA head Gianni Infantino has raised suspicions and fears of political interference in sports. Although the FIFA disciplinary committee swore that it made its decision completely independently, few believed it, and Belgium clearly did not digest this fact from the prince.
After the match, the Red Devils’ official social media account posted a half-cheeky, half-vindictive message: “Cancel it,” we read those few words, accompanied by a photo of Romelu Lukaku coming on to score his side’s fourth goal in the final minutes of the match.
The choice of photo, of course, is not accidental: after scoring a goal, Lukaku first put his hand behind his ears, as if to say that he had silenced the stadium, then made a blah blah hand gesture, as if telling the Americans that now we hear them less, because before the match we heard them much less.
Tielemans: “We had a meeting”
Immediately afterwards, the Belgian striker appeared to point towards the official stand, where Gianni Infantino, the FIFA boss, was located. They then performed dance steps with their teammates, which some compared to Donald Trump’s, to the tune of the YMCA. The Belgians clearly couldn’t stomach the fact that the football authorities decided to respect them so little…
“A lot has happened at an extra-sporting level in the last two days,” midfielder Nicolas Raskin told RTBF. “There was a sense of injustice in the group and we were keen to respond to that on the pitch.”
Asked to say whether the incident had given the Red Devils any impetus ahead of the match, team captain Youri Tielemans replied: “Yes.” “We’re not going to hide it, we had a meeting when we heard the news,” the Aston Villa player told RTBF. “We told ourselves we had to react locally. That’s what we did today. I’m very proud of the team.”