SEATTLE (AP) — By advancing to the knockout round atop Group G, Belgium has already improved upon its woeful performance at the World Cup four years ago.
After a historic third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Belgium did not advance past the group stage in 2022 in Qatar. With its 5-1 victory over New Zealand on Friday night, Belgium won its group and achieved what coach Rudi Garcia wanted from his club.
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Belgium's Leandro Trossard (10) celebrates his goal against New Zealand with teammates Kevin De Bruyne (7) and Charles De Ketelaere (17) during the first half of a World Cup Group G soccer match, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Timothy Matwey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw looks onto the pitch during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Senegal and Iraq in Toronto, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Belgium's Romelu Lukaku (9) drives towards New Zealand's Francis de Vries (3) during the World Cup Group G soccer match between New Zealand and Belgium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Kaleb Tatum)
Senegal's Sadio Mane (10) plays during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Senegal and Iraq in Toronto, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia talks during a news conference on the eve of the team's World Cup soccer match against New Zealand, Thursday, June 25, 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Ahead of Wednesday’s knockout round match against Senegal, Garcia expressed satisfaction with his group’s accomplishments, as well as a desire for more. Belgium won one game and played to two draws in group play.
“We wanted to finish first in the group stage and we succeeded,” Garcia said in French. “Of course we wanted to win more — we know the story of our World Cup so far. Now it is time for the knockout phase. Senegal is a big team. But, you have to beat them, too, if you want to go far in a World Cup.”
For Belgium’s participation in the tournament to be considered a success, it must first get by a Senegal team that finished third in Group I with three points and a plus-2 goal differential. The African team navigated one of the toughest groups in the tournament, one that featured favorite France and the Erling Haaland-led Norway.
“We know it will be a tough match,” Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku said Monday in French. “Senegal has a lot of top-level players, and the coach is, too. I think it’s 50-50. We really shouldn’t underestimate them.”
Given what transpired in the round of 32 shortly after Lukaku’s comments, Belgium would be wise to heed his warning. Germany lost to unheralded Paraguay on penalties while Morocco sent the Netherlands to its earliest World Cup exit on Monday night.
Belgium is aware that even as the odds-on pick to beat Senegal, it must be careful on Wednesday. Otherwise, it could fall victim to the same fate as its European counterparts.
“It doesn’t matter who the favorite is,” said Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere. “We have confidence and need to be sharp. Yesterday showed that it doesn’t matter if you are the favorite.”
Senegal, meanwhile, hopes it has the offensive firepower to score against stingy Belgium, which has allowed two goals in three games with star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in net. Led by Sadio Mane, Senegal is coming off a 5-0 rout of Iraq.
But, Senegal will also be short-handed on the defensive side. Goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, who was injured in a 3-2 loss to Norway in group play, will not be available Wednesday, according to coach Pape Thiaw. Reserve Mory Diaw, who started in Mendy’s place against Iraq, is likely to do so again.
“Mory had a great performance,” Thiaw said in French. “He kept a clean sheet and I think (as) the goalkeeper tomorrow, we hope that we’ll also come up with a clean sheet.”
Even if Senegal has to turn to Diaw, Thiaw is confident his side can pull off an upset, much like both Paraguay and Morocco did Monday.
“It’s not because you finished top of your group that you’re not going to be knocked out in the next round,” Thiaw said. “That’s exactly what happened with the Netherlands. It’s another tournament starting. We are looking for the win tomorrow so that we can continue our journey.”
Center back Zeno Debast, who has not appeared in a World Cup match this summer due to injury, will be available for Wednesday’s match, but is not expected to start, according to Garcia.
Debast participated in his first training session Monday after he had an MRI on Saturday for a left leg injury. He practiced again Tuesday with tape on his left knee.
“Zeno Debast is with the group, but tomorrow is still too soon,” Garcia said. “He is making progress, though. He still needs time to get fully fit, as was anticipated. I am very satisfied with the defenders we have already called upon.”
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
Belgium's Leandro Trossard (10) celebrates his goal against New Zealand with teammates Kevin De Bruyne (7) and Charles De Ketelaere (17) during the first half of a World Cup Group G soccer match, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Timothy Matwey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw looks onto the pitch during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Senegal and Iraq in Toronto, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Belgium's Romelu Lukaku (9) drives towards New Zealand's Francis de Vries (3) during the World Cup Group G soccer match between New Zealand and Belgium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Kaleb Tatum)
Senegal's Sadio Mane (10) plays during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Senegal and Iraq in Toronto, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia talks during a news conference on the eve of the team's World Cup soccer match against New Zealand, Thursday, June 25, 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both hit the campaign trail on Thursday, but headed to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
Trump’s travel to Texas and Oklahoma kicked off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3.
“I think we’re going to win. Every place I’ve gone, we win,” Trump said during a speech at a truck facility in Denton, northwest of Dallas. He said some have suggested his “heart isn't in it. My heart is in it,” and if not, he'd promised he'd be “home right now.”
“My heart is in it like never before,” Trump said of the run-up to the midterms.
Vance, meanwhile, stumped in Florida, putting the Republican Party’s highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races.
The vice president tried to cast the GOP as representing common sense in the face of a Democratic push to the left.
“I have the easiest job in the world,” the vice president said in Lakeland, Florida. “I get to talk about how crazy the Democrats are.”
Trump and Vance could have their work cut out for them, though.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of Trump's handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.
Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices as his unpopular war in Iran drags on.
According to Trump, his party has merely done a poor job of public relations in promoting his administration's accomplishments.
“Maybe we’re doing a bad job selling it,” Trump said in Texas.
Still, the president spent far more time scoffing at his predecessor, President Joe Biden, reliving his 2024 presidential campaign and defending the war in Iran than he did talking about how he'll help lower the cost of living.
Trump scoffed at questions about affordability, insisting that they'd been caused by Biden, who left office more than two years ago. He also insisted that prices were actually on the decline.
“I think inflation is very real, but they’re the ones that caused the inflation,” he said. “I’m the one that’s bringing it down, and we have to be able to get that word out somehow because they’re using the word affordability.”
The Democratic National Committee said Trump and Vance are “desperately trying to rally their base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat.”
“Donald Trump and JD Vance started a deadly and costly war with Iran that sent the economy spiraling and pushed prices even higher, and now — in the final stretch to the midterms — they’re desperately pleading with voters to 'give (them) another chance,'” said DNC deputy communications director Kendall Witmer.
Trump toured the truck facility and chatted with workers in Texas, where Republicans are spending heavily to try to bolster state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race that could be closer than long expected. Paxton is facing Democratic state Rep. James Talarico,
Paxton attended the event and Trump joked that he “could be a pain in the ass sometimes” but also noted, “We need Ken so badly, and that’s why I’m here.”
Trump didn't summon Paxton to the stage. He also shouted out, but didn't invite to speak, an unlikely traveler accompanying him, former NBA star Dennis Rodman. Trump praised Rodman as his longtime friend and said Rodman had become close with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
After his Texas speech, the White House announced that bad weather conditions were forcing Trump to motorcade from his event in Denton to a subsequent rally in Durant, Oklahoma — about 85 miles away.
The motorcade’s vehicles made the trip at breakneck speed, occasionally approaching 100 mph, and Trump posted during the ride that his limo, “The Beast,” was going “faster than it has ever gone before.”
Trump was in Oklahoma for Republican Mike Mazzei, running against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson for governor.
That event was held on the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, making Trump one of the few U.S. presidents who have visited tribal nations while in office. Trump mentioned that the poverty rate among Native Americans had fallen during his presidency, as it declined for other segments of the population.
He also noted Democrats potentially controlling Congress after November, “If we don’t win, they’ll end up impeaching me.”
“I’ve become very good at beating them in impeachment,” Trump said.
The president will be campaigning in more politically competitive areas in the weeks ahead as he embarks on his travel sprint. But Republican officials will not send him to places where they think his presence could drag down their candidates, according to a person familiar with the party’s strategy who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump’s Oklahoma visit, and likewise one on Friday to Alabama, aimed at hitting two targets with one stop, the person said.
Republican officials have noted that even his Oklahoma stop brought Trump close to the Dallas-Fort Worth media market, meaning the president's message reached Texas voters who could back Paxton.
His Friday stop in Mobile, Alabama, is aimed not only at boosting Sen. Tommy Tuberville as he runs for Alabama governor but also at shoring up support in Florida’s adjacent panhandle for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds.
Donalds is running for Florida governor against David Jolly, the Republican-turned-independent who is now running as a Democrat. Donalds' campaign in heavily GOP Florida comes as Republicans there have faced some turbulence and voter concerns about affordability and artificial intelligence data centers have become central issues.
With Trump in Oklahoma and Texas, Vance's central Florida stop on Thursday was for Donalds. That came a day after the vice president campaigned in Texas, rallying with Republican candidate Eric Flores, who is in a tight U.S. House race in south Texas.
Trump will also campaign on Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, and on Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska.
In a meeting on Capitol Hill this week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described privately to GOP senators that Trump will have a near-daily sprint of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that White House officials are “acknowledging the headwinds” but that “they have a strategy."
Capito also defended the White House’s plan to send Trump to traditionally conservative territory, arguing that he can motivate the Republican base not just where he travels but elsewhere in the country because he has such a broad reach.
“He can get more of his voters out — that are going to be our voters — than anybody else,” Capito said.
Associated Press reporters Jamie Stengle in Denton, Texas; Seung Min Kim in Washington; Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
Oklahoma Governor candidate Mike Mazzei speaks before President Donald Trump arrives at the Choctaw Event Center, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Durant, Okla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U,S, Vice President JD Vance speaks during a campaign rally to support the GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds in Lakeland, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, listens as President Donald Trump speaks at Peterbilt Motors, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump greets Sarah Renshaw at Peterbilt Motors, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
People pose for a photo before President Donald Trump speaks at the Choctaw Event Center, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Durant, Okla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at Peterbilt Motors, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
People listen as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Choctaw Event Center, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Durant, Okla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
People arrive before President Donald Trump at the Choctaw Event Center, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Durant, Okla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin speaks before President Donald Trump arrives at the Choctaw Event Center, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Durant, Okla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
People listen as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Choctaw Event Center, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Durant, Okla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds speaks during a campaign rally with Vice President JD Vance in Lakeland, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)
U,S, Vice President JD Vance arrives at a campaign rally to support the GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds in Lakeland, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)
People listen as.President Donald Trump speaks at Peterbilt Motors, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, applauds Republican U.S. Senate candidate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as President Donald Trump speaks at Peterbilt Motors, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks at the Peterbilt Motors Company, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Vice President JD Vance arrives for a rally in Harlingen Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
President Donald Trump speaks during an East Room event at the White House celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
