Thibaut Courtois believes Belgium wasn’t reated with respect before they beat the USMNT 4-1. There was much excitement for how the World Cup could go for the USMNT after they beat Paraguay in impressive fashion in their first match. That led many to be very confident before the Round of 16 against Belgium, to the point that Thibaut Courtois felt his team had been disrespected.
Courtois said: “In recent days, we have been disrespected here in the United States. It was being said that they could beat us easily, but I think today we showed that we are a good team. We played a great match.”
Coming into the match, there were doubts after Belgium had to come back from a 2-0 deficit against Senegal in the final minutes, but that didn’t happen against the USMNT, as a convincing 4-1 victory showed who was the better team.
Courtois on the plan against the USMNT
For the goalkeeper, the most recent match between Belgium and the USMNT was important: “We wanted to pin the United States back from the start and tried to create chances. Then they started to doubt themselves. Perhaps the 5-2 defeat against us in the friendly was affecting them.”
Balogun played after a red card (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
The main topic of the week was probably the unprecedented rescinding of Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which allowed the forward to play even though he had originally been sent off. That prompted a response from Courtois, who admitted he found the situation surprising.
Courtois said: “I read about it and it amused me. I understand that they want to generate excitement around the United States, but today I had more confidence in our victory than against Senegal, which has a better team than the United States.”
Courtois on Spain
After beating the USMNT, Belgium earned a place in the quarterfinals against Spain. Courtois said: “The quarterfinal against Spain, my second country, will be special. My young son will have to support Belgium, otherwise I won’t let him come back home! I am very happy to be able to play against them.”