Pochettino\u2019s side aims to continue its impressive run and book a place in the quarter-finals<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
A different kind of Monday Night Football comes to Seattle when the U.S. face Belgium for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals, with an American side carrying rising expectations into a meeting with one of Europe’s most experienced teams.<\/p>\n
The \u200cmatch at the Seattle Seahawks’ home stadium, one of the loudest venues in the NFL, is expected to provide a raucous backdrop for a U.S. team whose tournament ambitions have grown with each performance.<\/p>\n
Before the World Cup, many U.S. supporters viewed a place in the last 16 as a reasonable target.<\/p>\n
However, wins over Paraguay and Australia in the group stage, followed \u2060by a 2-0 victory over Bosnia despite playing the final 36 minutes with 10 men, have raised hopes that Mauricio Pochettino’s side can make a deeper run on home soil.<\/p>\n
Belgium, by contrast, have yet to fully convince.<\/p>\n
The European side needed a late escape against Senegal, trailing for the majority of the match before scoring twice to level and then advancing after a VAR-assisted penalty decision in extra time that left Senegal frustrated.<\/p>\n
For Belgium, the tournament may represent the final World Cup act for the country’s so-called “Golden Generation,” led by Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois.<\/p>\n
The U.S. defence, \u200cregarded \u2060as a potential weakness before the tournament but impressive against Bosnia, will also likely have to contain Jeremy Doku, who is due for a breakout performance after a subdued display so far in the tournament.<\/p>\n
US OUT FOR REVENGE<\/strong><\/p>\n The meeting carries echoes of 2014, when Belgium knocked the U.S. out in the last 16 after extra \u2060time in Brazil, a match remembered for Tim Howard’s record-setting goalkeeping performance, making 16 saves, and a late American rally that fell just short.<\/p>\n This time, the U.S. will be without striker Folarin Balogun, who scored in \u2060the first half against Bosnia before receiving a red card in the second half. His suspension leaves Pochettino with a key selection decision as the Americans try to extend a campaign that has \u2060captured national attention.<\/p>\n “As a team we want to leave our mark on the game and a legacy behind,” U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams said.<\/p>\n “We know that the further we go, the more the game is going to grow.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pochettino\u2019s side aims to continue its impressive run and book a place in the quarter-finals SEATTLE: A different kind of Monday Night Football comes to Seattle when the U.S. face Belgium for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals, with an American side carrying rising expectations into a meeting with one of Europe’s most experienced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/img-86431783258730-0\/img-86431783258730-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t