World Cup: Belgium advance to quarters after convincing win over United States | OneFootball

Belgium are the next team to join the World Cup quarter-final after their comfortable victory over the United States. With Canada and Mexico bowing out in the previous days, all the three co-hosts are eliminated in the Round of 16 stage.

Rudi Garcia's side had an electric start to the game as Matt Freese had to make a decent save to deny Timothy Castagne in the first minute. They had the breakthrough with Charles di Ketelaere's simple finish in the ninth minute from Nicolas Raskin's cutback. 

Bayer Leverkusen’s Malik Tillman scored his second free-kick in as many matches, this one deflected by Hans Vanaken, but Belgium restored their lead with De Ketelaere getting at the end of Leonardo Trossard's inviting cross a couple of minutes later. 

Mistakes by Freese and former Bundesliga defender Chris Richards led to further goals for Belgium in the second-half. Vanaken, who came on in the place of seriously-injured Amadou Onana, had the simple task of guiding the ball into the net after Di Ketelaere forced the onrushing USMNT's goalkeeper into an error early in the second-half.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side improved after that as there was even a decent chance for Folarin Balogun, whose involvement dominated the headlines before the game. Lukaku extended his scoring streak to three matches with a brilliant finish in injury-time.

Glabach's Gio Reyna played the second-half as he replaced the makeshift winger Sergino Dest. Eintracht Frankfurt's Arthur Theate was an unused substitute, while former Bundesliga stars Dodi Lukebakio and Axel Witsel featured for Belgium. Similarly, Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright were late substitutes, with Gladbach's Joe Scally remained on the bench the entire game.

Belgium will face Spain in the quarter-final as they eye to reach the last four for the second time in three editions. With only two spots left, five of the six qualified teams so far hail from Europe.