Belgium 4 – USA 1: a love letter to America after the meme of the century

Par Gabriel Goldberg 9 July 2026 7 min read

A few days ago, my adopted country — Belgium — beat a country I love and deeply respect — the United States — 4-1 at the World Cup. Ever since, my phone has not stopped. Friends send memes, cousins gloat, and Americans themselves forward GIFs of Lady Liberty facepalming. So here it is. Before the score fades and the brass band moves on, I want to put one thing on record: I am a devoted, respectful, grateful admirer of the United States of America . Not an expert — the country is far too vast for that — but a long-time friend. This piece is a letter. A long, sincere, funny letter, with a few photographs and a lot of stories. And at the end, one question: who wins the 2026 World Cup? The meme that lit up my WhatsApp: Manneken-Pis, red jersey #1, facing Lady Liberty. Belgium 4 – USA 1. A love that goes way back My story with the United States started long before that 4-1. It started with books, films, songs, then with travels — roughly thirty trips there in almost twenty years. Enough to love it, far too few to claim I know it: the United States is so vast, so diverse, that no one — not even Americans themselves — can seriously say they have taken its full measure. In June 2018, I spent a week in California, between Google's Mountain View campus, Singularity University and a ride in a self-driving Waymo prototype. It was a hinge moment: the future had an American accent. June 2018. Google Executive Management Tour, Mountain View. The badge sat on my desk for eight years. The…