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Score prediction for USA vs Belgium
The game is set to be played on Monday, July 6 at 5pm local time (1am UK time).
Both sides will be in familiar surrounding at Lumen Field in Seattle: both teams played there once in the group stage, with Belgium also playing their round of 32 game at the stadium.
Co-hosts the United States have been full of endeavour since announcing their intentions for the summer with a 4-1 win over Paraguay.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have scored two in each of their games since then, with their sole defeat of the tournament, to Turkiye, coming after they were already guaranteed to top their group.
They have been significantly boosted by FIFA’s decision to suspend Falorin Balogun’s one-game ban for his straight red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last round – a bizarre move, even if we thought he never should have been dismissed in the first place.
Belgium have meanwhile flattered to deceive for most of this tournament so far. They were fortunate to draw with Egypt in their opener thanks to an own goal, shared a goalless stalemate with Iran, and, to be fair, absolutely battered New Zealand 5-1 to finish top of the group.
But they looked a long way off the pace through much of their round of 32 encounter with Senegal and were deservedly 2-0 down before mounting a stunning comeback in the final four minutes and winning it in extra time.
That all makes this is a tough one to call, which is also reflected in the bookies being barely able to separate them either – Belgium are only just slight favourites for the tightest of all the round of 16 games.
We really just can’t get out of heads just how bad Belgium were for so much of the game against Senegal though, so we’re going to stick our necks out a bit here.
- Score prediction: USA 2-1 Belgium