Belgium took down the United States 4-1 in the World Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday, but the victory came with a gut punch. Midfielder Amadou Onana is out for the rest of the tournament after tearing his ACL during the first half.
The 24-year-old Aston Villa man went down in a collision with U.S. defender Antonee Robinson. He tried to shake it off and stay on the field, but it was clear something was wrong. He didn’t make it to halftime. Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia confirmed after the match that Onana’s tournament was over, and subsequent medical reports confirmed the worst — a full ACL rupture that typically sidelines a player for six to nine months.
Here’s the thing about Onana: he was arguably Belgium’s most important outfield player in this tournament. Not the flashiest, but the one who made everything else work. His absence now changes the entire dynamic for a team beginning to look dangerous again after a few years of relative quiet.
The game itself
Belgium didn’t exactly crumble without him. They scored four goals anyway. Charles De Ketelaere bagged two, Hans Vanaken added one, and Romelu Lukaku got his customary World Cup goal. The U.S. looked overwhelmed at times, never quite recovering after Belgium’s early pressure.
But nobody on the Belgium side was celebrating like they’d won the trophy. The locker room after the match was subdued, according to reporters on site. Players knew what they lost even as they advanced to a quarterfinal against Spain.
Onana had been playing the best soccer of his career, too. Villa fans will be watching this one closely. His rehab timeline means he’ll miss a big chunk of next season, which is brutal for a club that just spent big to bring him in and build around him.
Belgium’s medical staff will fly home with him while the team flies to the quarterfinal. That part of the story is already decided. The rest — how Belgium reshapes its midfield without him, whether Spain tries to exploit that gap, how Villa copes without him for months — that’s all still unfolding.
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