Romelu Lukaku is known for his smile and for a good reason. But the twelve months leading into this World Cup have tested that smile in ways that nobody on the outside can fully understand without knowing the full story.
It started with a pre-season injury at Napoli that kept him on the sidelines for months. Then came the loss of his father, a personal blow that would knock anyone sideways regardless of what’s happening professionally. When he finally returned to action for Napoli earlier this year, he ended the entire season with just 64 minutes of competitive football to his name. Not 64 minutes in one match. 64 minutes across the whole campaign.
Most coaches would have left him behind. Rudi Garcia didn’t. He knows that Lukaku’s value to Belgium goes well beyond the physical. His presence, his personality, and the psychological weight he carries for opposition defenders exist independently of match sharpness, and that knowledge was what kept him in the squad even after a season that barely qualified as playing time.
Kevin De Bruyne had said two days before the Belgium opener that Lukaku possesses enough talent to change a game in just a few minutes. On the evidence of what happened in Seattle, De Bruyne knows his teammate well. Belgium were trailing 1-0 against Egypt with 25 minutes left when Lukaku entered the fray. Within 20 seconds, he latched onto a Thomas Meunier delivery from the right and forced defender Mohamed Hany into turning the ball into his own net. Just like that, Belgium were level.
Garcia’s post-match assessment was honest and measured. He made clear that Lukaku isn’t ready to start yet, which is entirely understandable when your entire season amounted to 64 minutes. He also made clear that having him available at all felt like a gift, and that the whole squad feels the same way. Thibaut Courtois and Youri Tielemans both spoke about Lukaku in terms that go beyond describing a teammate. Tielemans called him fundamental to the team. Courtois confirmed what the coach often tells the squad, that the players coming off the bench can decide games just as much as those who start.
What you can’t plan for is the timing of a moment like that. Twenty seconds after stepping onto the pitch at a World Cup, after one of the hardest personal and professional years of his career, Lukaku changed the game. Even if it technically went down as an own goal, everyone in Seattle knew who was responsible.
When he scored for Napoli against Hellas Verona back in February and burst into tears immediately afterward, it told you everything about the weight he’d been carrying. This moment in Seattle felt like a different kind of release. Quieter, maybe, but just as meaningful. A player who’d been written off proving that the best football can still find space for a story that refuses to end neatly.
If you want to follow Belgium’s remaining World Cup campaign live, including the matches where Lukaku could well be pushing for a starting spot as his fitness builds, a quality IPTV subscription covering international match broadcasts gives you every Group G fixture live on any device.
Belgium still have everything to play for in Group G. Lukaku, fitness permitting, gives them a weapon that most sides at this tournament simply cannot match off the bench. One point from the opener is not the start they wanted, but the manner of the comeback, and the player responsible for it, suggests Garcia’s side are far from done.