2026 FIFA World Cup Day 24 recap: Arsenal star ends Ronaldo’s dream as Belgium teach USA how to play football

The 2026 FIFA World Cup action never stops, with two matches in the round of 16 taking place on day 24 of the tournament. 

The action started with the heavyweight clash between Portugal and Spain in Dallas before Belgium faced co-host USA in Seattle. 

Here’s a recap of all the action. 

It is official: Cristiano Ronaldo will end his illustrious career without winning the only title missing from his collection – the World Cup. 

The Portuguese star has won everything that is to be won in football except for the World Cup but was looking to change that in his sixth World Cup. 

However, that will not happen after Portugal were knocked out by Spain in their round of 16 clash in Dallas. It was always going to be difficult for Ronaldo and his teammates as Spain were favourites going into the game. 

Ronaldo once again cut a frustrated figure as he failed to make an impact on the game, despite playing the entire duration of the match. 

The game itself was low quality despite the talents on the pitch. Neither side created anything meaningful, but Arsenal star Mikel Merino, who came on as a substitute, was on hand to score the only goal of the game in the first minute of added time. 

It was indeed a sucker punch to Portugal as the game appeared to be heading to extra time before the strike. 

Merino’s goal ended Ronaldo’s World Cup dreams, with the Al-Nassr player visibly emotional after the final whistle. 

The USA are out of the FIFA World Cup, and it could not have been more deserved after the move pulled by Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino ahead of their round of 16 clash against Belgium. 

The build-up to the match was dominated by Folarin Balogun’s controversial availability for the game. Balogun had received a red card in the USA’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32. 

Ideally, he should have missed the game but became available after FIFA invoked Article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code after Trump pressured Infantino to tell the governing body to review the incident. 

That decision incurred criticism from the football community, with many accusing FIFA of dancing to the tune of the US President. 

However, despite Balogun’s availability, the USA were no match for Belgium as Rudi Garcia’s men delivered their best performance of the tournament for a 4-1 win. 

The Red Devils opened the scoring through Charles De Ketelaere in the ninth minute, but Malik Tillman restored parity for the hosts in the 31st minute. 

That was the USA’s only best moment of the game, though, as De Ketelaere scored his second of the game in the 33rd minute to give Belgium the lead going into the break. 

Hans Vanaken then capitalised on a mistake from Matt Freese to make it 3-1 after the break before Romelu Lukaku’s strike in added time completed an emphatic win for Belgium. 

The win was fully deserved for Belgium and was also morally satisfying, considering what happened ahead of the game. 

As for the USA, they were handed a reality check, as the result shows that the Yanks are still far behind Europe’s elite in international football.