SEATTLE: Belgium captain Youri Tielemans revealed his team had been fired up by the uproar surrounding Folarin Balogun after the Red Devils thrashed the United States 4-1 at the World Cup on Monday.
Tielemans said Belgium's players had held a team meeting after Balogun's shock FIFA reprieve and had vowed to make a statement against the World Cup co-hosts.
"Let's be honest: we held a meeting when we heard the news," Tielemans said of the Balogun controversy.
"We told ourselves we needed to do our talking on the pitch. That's what we did today. I'm very proud of the team," the Aston Villa midfielder told Belgium's RTBF broadcaster.
Balogun was named in the United States line-up on Monday after FIFA suspended his one-match ban for a sending off in the last 32, but he made little impact in the match.
The shock FIFA decision came after an intervention by US President Donald Trump in a decision which drew condemnation across the football world.
"We played with real grit," Tielemans said. "We wanted to get off to a good start -- something we’d been missing earlier in the tournament.
"We knew that if we put them under pressure, they'd make mistakes."