{"id":27782,"date":"2026-07-10T04:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T04:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/27782\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T04:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T04:27:10","slug":"belgium-enjoying-the-after-effects-of-world-cup-trump-dance-troll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/27782\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium enjoying the after effects of World Cup Trump dance troll"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 Belgium\u2019s 4-1 dismantling of the United States<\/a> in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 wasn\u2019t enough. <\/p>\n

The Red Devils wanted the last laugh, too.<\/p>\n

As Romelu Lukaku buried Belgium\u2019s fourth goal Monday night in Seattle, he sprinted toward the corner flag and with his teammates quickly joining him, broke into the unmistakable dance made famous by President Donald Trump at political rallies.<\/p>\n

You know the one. The one impersonated by athletes across the country, including USMNT star Christian Pulisic<\/a>. The one that involves slow swaying fists and rhythmic shoulder movements to the tune of the Village People\u2019s \u201cY.M.C.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, the same celebration moved into Belgium\u2019s locker room, where players repeated the dance while singing along to the song that has become synonymous with Trump\u2019s campaign appearances.<\/p>\n

Another jab at the Americans came in a message posted on Belgium\u2019s official X account <\/a>shortly after the final whistle: \u201cOverturn this.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Belgium\u2019s pointed response after FIFA suspended the one-match red card suspension of U.S. striker Folarin Balogun <\/a>following reported intervention from Trump the day before kickoff. <\/p>\n

The controversial decision irritated the Belgian camp. The federation appealed the decision and lost, but the players turned their frustration into fuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe told ourselves we needed to do our talking on the pitch,\u201d captain Youri Tielemans said after the victory. \u201cThat\u2019s what we did today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Midfielder Charles De Ketelaere, who scored twice in the victory, admitted the ruling provided extra motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for sure it had some impact on us,\u201d De Ketelaere told Fox\u2019s Tom Rinaldi. \u201cWe had a little extra motivation. For sure it motivated us a little bit more and you saw it today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicolas Raskin was even more blunt.<\/p>\n

\"BelgianBelgian players mock Donald Trump\u2019s dance while celebrating a 4-1 win over the USMNT on July 6, 2026 in Seattle. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always justice somewhere in life,\u201d the Belgian midfielder said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, as Belgium settled into preparations for its quarterfinal against Spain, the celebration had become one of the tournament\u2019s biggest talking points.<\/p>\n

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois distanced himself from the locker room festivities, saying he was required to do a doping test and wasn\u2019t present when the dance took place.<\/p>\n

Left back Diego Moreira smiled when asked about the dance and whether it carried any political meaning behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are different ways to celebrate different goals,\u201d Moreira said in Spanish through an interpreter. \u201cYou can do different dances, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve done. We just celebrated the win after the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s frustration with America carried over in Los Angeles when the federation asked to relocate its training base from Loyola Marymount to the L.A. Galaxy facility in Carson because the original facilities failed to meet their standards.<\/p>\n

Every match of the FIFA World Cup will air on either FOX or FOX Sports 1. If you don\u2019t have cable, you can take advantage of a DIRECTV free trial<\/a> to stream it all.<\/p>\n

Prefer to check out the action live and in person? Shop World Cup 2026 tickets on SeatGeek<\/a> and make sure to use promo code NYPOST10 for $10 off purchases over $250 at checkout if you\u2019re a first-time SeatGeek user.<\/p>\n

By Thursday, the team was ready to shift their attention to Spain as head coach Rudi Garcia and Lukaku declined to revisit the controversy during a prematch press conference. But Garcia was asked if he thought the crowd would be hostile in Los Angeles on Friday as many Americans might still hold a grudge against Belgium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just beat the U.S., obviously, in a match where everyone was against us,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI don\u2019t think the conditions will be any more difficult tomorrow. \u2026 It\u2019s not the fans who score the goals, it\u2019s the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the images of the Belgian players trolling Trump and the U.S. in Seattle still linger. <\/p>\n

But one could argue, the U.S. deserved to have their opponents celebrate by turning one of America\u2019s most recognizable political gestures into a victory dance, twisting the knife one final time before the Americans exited the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 Belgium\u2019s 4-1 dismantling of the United States in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,12799,3934,1176,4097,6273,1849,3206],"class_list":["post-27782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-belgium-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-us-mens-national-team","tag-us-soccer","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116893794102403110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27782","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=27782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}