Belgium Stun Senegal in Seattle Classic to Set Up USA Showdown

Belgium advanced to the Last-16 of the World Cup with a quite remarkable comeback win over Senegal in Seattle.

The Lions of Teranga were on top in the early stages and took the lead midway through the first half, as Habib Diarra tapped home from close range, before a brilliant Ismaela Sarr finish on 51 minutes put them 2-0 up and seemingly cruising.

And Belgium failed to create much in the way of chances, before Romelu Lukaku breathed life into them with a simple finish, but with just four minutes of regular time left, the writing still looked on the wall.

But three minutes later, Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans rose above the Senegalese defence and goalkeeper to head in and force a period of extra time that no one saw coming.

And the greatest drama was still yet to come.

Tielemans, at the heart of the action once again, was brought down by Lamine Camara with just minutes to go until a penalty shootout, and after VAR took a look, referee Said Martinez awarded the Belgians a spot-kick to win it.

And captain Tielamans took his chance with a composed finish to complete a stunning turnaround and confirm their spot in the next round.

Waiting for them will be the USA, after the co-hosts comfortably beat Bosnia 2-0 in San Francisco, despite playing the final half-hour with ten men.

It was another typically energetic US display and they were ahead on the stroke of half-time when the ball deflected nicely into the path of Folarin Balogun, who tucked away his third goal of the tournament.

But his day was cut short on 64 minutes when he accidentally raked his foot down the achilles of Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemovic, and after a VAR check, the Monaco man was shown a straight red card.

That didn’t stop his team mates continuing to dominate, though, and Malik Tillman made the game safe eight minutes from time when he curled home a free-kick from the edge of the box.

And the USA will now face Belgium on 7th July in a 1am kick-off in Seattle.