SEATTLE — For three weeks, it was the best World Cup ever for the U.S.

The Americans scored more goals, won more games and generated more interest than any U.S. team in history. But all that glory gave way to grief Monday when a 4-1 loss to Belgium brought the U.S. crashing back to Earth.

Belgium never trailed, getting two first-half goals from Charles De Ketelaere and two in the second half from Hans Vanaken and Romelu Lukaku to clinch a spot in the tournament quarterfinals, where it will face Spain on Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. For the U.S., whose lone goal came from Malik Tillman, its World Cup ended in the round of 16 for a fourth straight time.

The U.S. did win a knockout round game in the tournament for just the second time, but that came in a round of 32 necessitated by the World Cup’s expansion to 48 teams. All three tournament hosts, the U.S., Canada and Mexico, were eliminated in the round of 16.

The run-up to Monday’s game was clouded by the controversy surrounding U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, the Americans’ leading scorer, who wasn’t officially cleared to play until about seven hours before kickoff after FIFA rejected an appeal from the Royal Belgium Football Assn. The association was seeking to overturn an unusual ruling from the FIFA disciplinary committee, which on Sunday made Balogun eligible to play despite the fact he was shown a red card and expelled from his team’s previous game.

The red card also carried with it a ban from the team’s next game — in this case, the Belgium match — but FIFA suspended that penalty and imposed a one-year probation instead. It was just the second time in World Cup history — and the first since 1962 — that FIFA has held a red-card suspension in abeyance and allowed a player to participate in his team’s next game.

Balogun was active Monday, going the full 90 minutes, but Belgium kept him from getting on the scoreboard.

Belgium, in fact, was on the front foot from the start, taking six shots and putting two on target in the first eight minutes before going ahead on De Ketelaere’s first goal in the ninth minute. De Ketelaere, starting over the more physical Lukaku, Belgium’s all-time leading scorer, got free on the edge of the six-yard box and ran onto a centering pass from Nicolas Raskin, then made the easy tap-in for his first World Cup goal.

The sequence followed Sergiño Dest’s decision to let a headed clearance attempt from Chris Richards bounce inside the penalty area, allowing Raskin to scoop up the loose ball and send it on to De Ketelaere, whose goal marked the first time the U.S. trailed in the first half hour of a game in this tournament. It was also the earliest goal the U.S. had allowed in a World Cup game since Nani scored for Portugal in the fifth minute of the second group stage game in Brazil in 2014.

The U.S. matched that in the 31st minute when Tillman deflected a free kick in off the head of Vanaken following a foul on Balogun. It was Tillman’s second free-kick goal in as many games, making him the second player since 1966 to score twice off direct free-kick goals in the same World Cup.

But the draw was short-lived, with De Ketelaere putting Belgium in front, where they would stay, two minutes later with his second score of the first half, this one a header over the back of U.S. captain Tim Ream. Leandro Trossard got the assist, bending a perfect back-post cross from the end line to his waiting teammate.

Belgium dominated the opening half, outshooting the Americans 11-3 and putting five of those tries on goal, an edge U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino tried to address by subbing Dest off at halftime for Gio Reyna. It didn’t work, however, with Belgium expanding its lead on a major gaffe from U.S. keeper Matt Freese in the 57th minute.

Freese, who had given up just one goal in his first three starts, came well off his line to beat De Ketelaere to a loose ball, chesting it to the turf. But De Ketelaere poked a toe out to knock the ball back to Vanaken, who skipped a shot from about 30 yards past a retreating Ream and into the vacant goal.

After the goal, U.S. star Christian Pulisic was subbed out after sustaining an apparent leg injury while attempting a shot. He was limping on the field before being replaced by Sebastian Berhalter.

Lukaku, who came on in the 67th minute, closed out the scoring with a goal in stoppage time.

The U.S., which was eliminated by Belgium in the round of 16 of the 2014 World Cup, hasn’t beaten the Red Devils since its opening match of the first World Cup in 1930.

U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese reacts after Belgium midfielder Hans Vanaken (not shown) scored against him in the second half of Belgium’s 4-1 win at the World Cup on Monday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino released a statement on Monday addressing his interactions with President Donald Trump amid USA World Cup star Folarin Balogun’s suspended one-game ban.

Trump told reporters he asked Infantino if FIFA would review the play. Infantino said in his release that “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent” and “operate autonomously, apply the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations and the specific facts before them.”

ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!

“Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues,” he said. “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.

“I read the decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee when they are issued. Sometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree.

“What I always do, however, is respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them. Whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant. Respect for independent institutions and the rule of law is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of FIFA at all times.”

Balogun was given a red card after a VAR review to look at a play in which Balogun stepped on the ankle of a Bosnia and Herzegovina defender. He would have been suspended for the team’s match against Belgium but FIFA decided to suspend the one-game ban.

Trump addressed the controversy in the Oval Office.

“All I did was, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul,” the president said. “And again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that would be different.

“I think it’s a terrible … if they wouldn’t allow a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain. I relayed it. I didn’t tell him what to do. I don’t believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision and they made the right decision because, No. 1, it wasn’t a foul and you want to see a game with your best players.”

Trump said the feeling would be the same if Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Harry Kane would have been given a red card in a similar way.

He also took issue with the call itself.

“If you would have taken him out, I think it would have really stained this incredible championship,” Trump continued. “We gotta have our best players and Belgium, Belgium’s got a great team by the way. We have our best players and they have to have their best. If we win or we lose, it’s fair. Otherwise, let’s say we lost to them, then we lost the game. It would be a terrible thing. I think they made a really brilliant decision.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I think the referee’s call was horrible and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it’s fine. The referee’s decision to red card, I didn’t know what the hell a red card was and when I found out I said, ‘You gotta be kidding.’ … I said, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of power, that’s terrible.’ And then I looked at his past and it wasn’t so great.”

Belgium’s appeal was dismissed later Monday.

Rui Hachimura became the latest Lakers player to move on, agreeing to a two-year, $28-million deal with the Clippers on Monday, people familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed to The Times.

Hachimura played at a high level for the Lakers in the playoffs, averaging 17.5 points per game in 10 postseason games, the third-highest average on the team.

He was a lights-out shooter, making 54.9 percent of his field goals and a sizzling 56.9 percent of his three-pointers, which ranked him fifth in three-point shooting during the NBA playoffs.

According to people familiar with the team but not authorized to speak publicly, some members of the Clippers coaching staff liked how Hachimura played and thought he would be a good pickup because of his shooting and athleticism.

The Lakers acquired Hachimura, 28, from the Washington Wizards in Jan. 2023. He spent three-plus seasons with the Lakers and was a favorite of his teammates.

His ability to knock down three-pointers from the corner opened up things for Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, both of whom could rely on Hachimura to be ready to catch and shot even when he didn’t get many touches.

Over 68 games last season with the Lakers, 41 as a starter, Hachimura averaged 11.5 points and shot 51.4 percent from the field and 44.3 percent from three-point range.

He started all 10 playoff games for the Lakers, scoring a playoff-high 25 points against the Thunder in 43 minutes, going nine-for-15 from the field, four-for-eight from three-point range.