USA – Belgium

The opponents will score at least three goals in the Round of 16 match.

On Sunday, news exploded across the information landscape, once again confirming that FIFA has become a toy in the hands of the United States of America, and Gianni Infantino will do exactly what his master—the White House—and his wayward soul tell him to do. US national team forward Folarin Balogun committed a brutal foul in the Round of 16 match, nearly breaking his opponent's leg, which after VAR intervention resulted in a red card for him. On Sunday FIFA announced a verdict applying Article 27 of some Regulation, according to which a mandatory ban can be replaced with a conditional one. It's hard to believe such a provision could be applied in favor of the DR Congo or Cape Verde national teams. Belgium will not be able to challenge this FIFA decision, but will surely gain several tens of millions of neutral fans around the world concerned about the 'handball' football authority's decision. The US national team itself, both in the group stage and in the first round of the playoffs, showed that it did not need external help. In the Round of 16 the Americans advanced from first place in their group, in the opening rounds defeating Paraguay and Australia. In the third match, Mauricio Pochettino's charges lost to a highly motivated Turkish side, but did so with almost a second-string lineup. No questions about the US performance arose in the playoffs either, where they were head and shoulders above Bosnia and Herzegovina, scoring one of the two goals while already a man down following Balogun's aforementioned sending off. Belgium's progress through the tournament can be described as laborious and desperate. Rudi Garcia's charges had enough skill and luck only in the third group-stage match against New Zealand. In the first two rounds Romelu Lukaku and his teammates failed to beat Egypt and Iran, which after the disastrous World Cup in Qatar caused terrible tension within the Belgian camp. The Round of 16 match involving Belgium became one of the most dramatic in this tournament. Ten minutes before the final whistle Belgium were 0-2 down to Senegal, but managed to level the score and score the decisive goal near the end of the second extra time. It seems there should be many goals in such a match.