“Overturn this.”With two words Belgium’s social media team, Belgium’s football team and basically the entire nation of Belgium collectively dropped a supersized mic on the United States. It was the zinger of the World Cup. American fries were drowned with creamy Belgian mayonnaise.The United States is a pretty big country — around 320 times the size of Belgium. FIFA is a fairly sizeable, important organisation, too. And the guy who is leader of the free world, President Donald Trump? Well, he’s quite influential. So it must have felt like the weight of the world was bearing down on Belgium’s players and their embattled coach Rudi Garcia as they unwittingly found themselves at the epicentre of one of the most controversial decisions in the long history of the World Cup (and there have been a few).President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were even telling Belgium what to think about Folarin Balogun’s reinstatement to the USMNT side. “We’re going to ​have ⁠a full team and Belgium is going to have a full team,” Trump said. “And you know what? If they beat us, then they can be really proud. The other ⁠way, ​if they beat us, we’ll say it was… ​I’d say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020, but I won’t get ​into that.”Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic appSecretary of State Rubio chimed in: “If you’re Belgium, why would you want to play a game and win a match, and then you win this match, and then everyone will argue you didn’t really win it because their best player, leading scorer, was not there during the match?”Belgium aren’t involved in international incidents often.Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere celebrates as the USMNT lick their wounds (Dirk Waem/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)How did they respond? Did they cower under the expectation of a country whose population dwarfs their own by 330million? Nope. The exact opposite. They came prepared with a game plan, ruthlessly enacted it in devastatingly clinical fashion, and broke the hearts of a nation one goal at a time.