Belgium Ready for Knockouts Against Senegal

SEATTLE — Belgium have spent most of this World Cup walking a tightrope between expectation and frustration. Now, as the tournament finally sharpens into knockout football, they arrive at the line with something they have not enjoyed all month: a clean bill of health and a clear head.

Coach Rudi Garcia stood in Seattle on Tuesday and allowed himself a rare smile. “Before this game against Senegal, we are lucky to have everyone available,” he said. “That’s a good thing because it was not the case for the first three games. Everyone was not 100 percent, unfortunately, or everyone was not completely fit. But this is over.”

It has been a stop‑start campaign. Belgium opened with back‑to‑back draws against Egypt and Iran in Group G, results that fed the usual murmur of doubt around a team expected to do more than merely survive. Then came New Zealand — and a 5-1 statement that dragged them from second gear into something closer to their true speed, sealing top spot in the group.

The scoreline flattered nobody. It was the first time in this tournament Belgium looked like a side capable of ripping opponents apart. The kind of performance that lingers in the mind of the next team on the schedule.

Now that team is Senegal.

Injuries Clearing, Stars Returning

The narrative around Belgium in recent months has been dominated by absences and half-measures. Romelu Lukaku, the country’s record scorer, barely featured for Napoli this past season, his hamstring refusing to cooperate and limiting him to just over an hour of league football. In this World Cup, he has been used sparingly, asked to change games from the bench rather than carry them from the start.

Even in short bursts, he has left a mark. Defenders still feel the weight of him. Teammates still lift when he steps onto the pitch.

Jeremy Doku’s tournament was interrupted for an altogether happier reason. The winger missed Belgium’s second group game to attend the birth of his son in London, a brief but significant detour at the height of a World Cup. Charles De Ketelaere, meanwhile, sat out the goalless draw with Iran because of a knee problem that raised fears of something more serious.

Now, the medical bulletins finally read the way Garcia wants them.

“Jeremy, Romelu are getting better. Charles, I think that his problem is over as well,” the coach said, the words carrying more than just an update. They signalled a shift in mood. A squad that had been nursing itself through the group stage can now attack the knockouts with something resembling full power.

From Stumbles to Steel

Belgium’s group campaign was not what they had drawn up on the tactics board. Two draws to open, one emphatic win to close. The path to first place was not smooth, but it was enough.

“We wanted to end first in the group and this is what we did,” Garcia said. “I wish we had won more games, all the games, but we’re not going to go back in the past. What matters now is that we progressed out of the group stage.”

That is the hard edge of tournament football. Style points vanish the moment the bracket appears. The room for error shrinks. Every misplaced pass, every lapse in concentration, can end a World Cup.

Belgium know it. Senegal will make sure they feel it.

Senegal Next, and No Room for Illusions

Attention now swings fully to the African champions, a side built on intensity, physicality and a refusal to bow to reputations. There is no easing into this knockout tie. Belgium either match Senegal’s edge or they go home.

Inside the Belgian camp, the message is clear: forget favourites, forget seeding, forget the noise.

Atalanta forward De Ketelaere pointed to the jolt that ran through the tournament on Monday, when Paraguay stunned Germany and blew up another bracket.

Paraguay’s win echoed across every team hotel.

“I don’t think it matters who is the favourite,” De Ketelaere said. “It matters that we have confidence in ourselves and that we are sharp tomorrow to just go win this game, because yesterday showed us that to be favourites or not, it doesn’t matter. We need to be alert and sharp to win the game.”

That is the reality check Belgium needed, if they even needed one. Names on paper do not win knockout ties. Fresh legs, clear minds and ruthless moments do.

For the first time at this World Cup, Garcia has his full squad at his disposal. Lukaku is edging closer to full rhythm. Doku is back from London and ready to stretch defences. De Ketelaere’s knee has settled. The group-stage stutters are banked, the table is topped, the excuses are gone.

Now comes Senegal, and with them the question Belgium have been circling for years: is this a group that finally delivers when the stakes are highest, or another chapter in a story of almost?