SEATTLE, 01 July, 2026 (Net) – Belgium coach Rudi Garcia says his side head into their World Cup last-32 clash with Senegal in better physical condition, with a fully fit squad boosting confidence ahead of the knockout stage.
“Before this game against Senegal, we are lucky to have everyone available and that’s a good thing be-cause it was not the case for the first three games,” Garcia said on Tuesday in Seattle.
“Everyone was not 100 percent unfortunately or everyone was not completely fit. But this is over.”
Belgium began their World Cup campaign with successive draws against Egypt and Iran in Group G but claimed top spot courtesy of a 5-1 rout of New Zealand.
Romelu Lukaku, Belgium’s all-time record scorer, played barely an hour for Napoli this past season due to a nagging hamstring injury, but he has made an impact off the bench at the tournament.
Jeremy Doku missed his team’s second game to attend the birth of his son in London, while Charles De Ketelaere also sat out the 0-0 draw with Iran because of a knee concern.
“Jeremy, Romelu are getting better. Charles, I think that his problem is over as well,” said Garcia, un-derlining a renewed sense of optimism around the squad.
“We wanted to end first in the group and this is what we did,” Garcia said. “I wish we had won more games, all the games, but we’re not going to go back in the past. What matters now is that we progressed out of the group stage.”
Attention now turns to Senegal, with Belgium aware that the margin for error has narrowed significantly as the tournament enters its knockout phase.
Atalanta forward De Ketelaere said Paraguay’s shock win over Germany on Monday showed nothing can be taken for granted at this stage.
“I don’t think it matters who is the favourite,” said De Ketelaere.
“It matters that we have confidence in ourselves and that we are sharp tomorrow to just go win this game, because yesterday showed us that to be favourites or not, it doesn’t matter.
“We need to be alert and sharp to win the game.”
