{"id":24885,"date":"2026-06-30T19:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/24885\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T19:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:58:28","slug":"belgium-striker-romelu-lukaku-happy-to-be-here-at-the-world-cup-as-fitness-continues-to-lag-national-sports-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/24885\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku \u2018happy to be here\u2019 at the World Cup as fitness continues to lag | National Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku\u2019s fitness remains a concern as the team prepares to take on Senegal in the round of 32 at the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Cup<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>kAm\u201cx\u2019&gt; 8@:?8 H:E9 E96 7=@H] x EC2:? 92C5[ 2?5 \ud83d\ude15 E96 6?5[ x\u2019&gt; 92AAJ E@ 36 96C6[\u201d {F&lt;26 7C@&gt;] x ECJ E@ 92G6 &gt;J :&gt;A24E H96? x ?665 E@]\u201dk^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAm{F&lt;2\u2019D D64@?5 8C@FA &gt;2E49 282:?DE xC2? 2?5 DECF88=65 E@ &lt;66A FA H:E9 E96 E6&gt;A@ @7 E96 &gt;2E49] w6 5:5 ?@E C68:DE6C 2 D9@E[ A:4&lt;65 FA 2 J6==@H 42C5 2?5 H2D C6A=2465 27E6C fb &gt;:?FE6D]k^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAmw@H6G6C[ \ud83d\ude15 9:D EH@ DF3DE:EFE6 2AA62C2?46D 282:?DE t8JAE 2?5 }6H +62=2?5[ {F&lt;2F49 36EE6C] %96 DEC:&lt;6C k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@&gt;^2CE:4=6^H@C=5\\4FA\\36=8:F&gt;\\68JAE\\D4@C6\\h5g6_534ah5_f4a`5hga`26h5b7h3c7dQm7@C465 2? @H?\\8@2= ;FDE ab D64@?5D 27E6C 6?E6C:?8 \ud83d\ude15 2 `\\` 5C2H 282:?DE t8JAEk^2m 2?5 25565 2 8@2= 2?5 2? 2DD:DE \ud83d\ude15 2 42&gt;6@ 282:?DE }6H +62=2?5]k^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAm\u201c(96? x\u2019&gt; @? E96 36?49[ x 92G6 2 =@E @7 E:&gt;6 E@ 2?2=JK6 6G6CJE9:?8 E92E\u2019D 92AA6?:?8 @? E96 7:6=5[\u201d {F&lt;2 \ud83d\ude00 E96 &gt;@DE :&gt;A@CE2?E E9:?8 7@C &gt;6]\u201dk^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAm{F&lt;2^2CE:4=6^D6C:62\\AC6G:6H\\=F&lt;2:=2?\\6dbfdbd`4265`5f`g76h5d7habb4`2h3QmAC@&gt;AE65 }2A@=: E@ 4@?D:56C AF?:D9:?8 E96 A=2J6Ck^2m]k^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAm%96 EH@ D:56D 96=5 4@?DECF4E:G6 E2=65 9:D 56D:C6 E@ DE2J H:E9 }2A@=: E9C@F89 ?6IE D62D@?]k^Am<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 12px; color: #666; text-transform: uppercase\">Story continues below video<\/p>\n<p>kAm$6?682=[ q6=8:F&gt;\u2019D =@@&gt;:?8 @AA@?6?E[ 7:?:D965 E9:C5 \ud83d\ude15 vC@FA x H:E9 E9C66 A@:?ED 2?5 2 A=FD\\a 8@2= 5:776C6?E:2=] %96 p7C:42? E62&gt; ?2G:82E65 @?6 @7 E96 E@F896DE 8C@FAD \ud83d\ude15 E96 E@FC?2&gt;6?E[ @?6 E92E 762EFC65 72G@C:E6 uC2?46 2?5 E96 tC=:?8 w22=2?5\\=65 }@CH2J]k^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAm$6?682= 7:?:D965 2D E96 6:89E9\\36DE E9:C5\\A=246 E62&gt; \u2014 E96 =2DE @7 E96 E9:C5\\A=246 7:?:D96CD E@ C6249 E96 C@F?5 @7 ba]k^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAm\u201c(6 @H :E H:== 36 2 E@F89 &gt;2E49] $6?682= 92D 2 =@E @7 E@A\\=6G6= A=2J6CD[ 2?5 E96 4@249 W!2A6 %9:2HX :D[ E@@[\u201d {F&lt;22E6 E96&gt;]\u201dk^Am<\/p>\n<p>kAmpE bb[ {F&lt;2VD \u201cv@=56? v6?6C2E:@?]\u201dk^Am<\/p>\n<p>k9C ^m<\/p>\n<p>kAm~H6? r2&gt;6C@D \ud83d\ude00 2 DEF56?E \ud83d\ude15 E96 y@9? rFC=6J r6?E6C 7@C $A@CED y@FC?2=:D&gt; 2E !6?? $E2E6]k^Am<\/p>\n<p>k9C ^m<\/p>\n<p>kAmp! (@C=5 rFAi k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@&gt;^9F3^7:72\\H@C=5\\4FAQm9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@&gt;^9F3^7:72\\H@C=5\\4FAk^2mk^Am<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku\u2019s fitness remains a concern as the team prepares to take on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,4167,4840],"class_list":["post-24885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-national","tag-national_sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116840831798031718","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}