SEATTLE – Either you love him, or you hate him, and right now everyone is loving Romelu Lukaku. Everyone in Belgium, that is.
With Egypt ahead in their World Cup opener thanks to Emam Ashour’s stunning first-half goal, and Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, and Youri Tielemans all misfiring, coach Rudi Garcia needed a target man. Just 23 seconds after entering the field, the 6-foot-3 striker forced the equalizer without touching the ball by barging his way through Yasser Ibrahim and Mohamed Hany, with the latter toe-poking the ball into his own net.
“For me, it was very positive,” Garcia said at the postgame press conference. “If he can play the super-sub role and then score every time he comes on, that’s great.”
The decision to throw Lukaku into the mix seemed as much of desperation as anything else. He still isn’t fully recovered from injury, hasn’t played since March 6th, has been on the field for only 64 minutes for Napoli this season, and only began training with the national team last Tuesday. Ultimately, none of that mattered.
“Huge impact – first touch, first goal,” Tielemans said. “So that really helped us. He’s our target man, and he needs to build up his fitness, which is understandable after being out for the season.”
A severe pre-season quad tear and persistent hip flexor inflammation limited his playing time this year. However, that’s only part of the saga surrounding the injury. There was the whole kerfuffle over his recovery, with Lukaku continuing treatment in Belgium despite Napoli’s desire for him to return to Italy and be treated under the club’s physician’s supervision.
One of three holdovers from Belgium’s Golden Generation, along with De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois, the 33-year-old has had more than his share of controversy – always brought on by himself. It started at Chelsea in 2021-2022 shortly after his club-record $135 million transfer from Italy. He criticized coach Thomas Tuchel’s tactics and expressed a desire to return to Inter Milan in an unsanctioned interview. Then, during his successful loan spell back at Inter in 2023, Lukaku held secret transfer talks with their rivals, Juventus, which caused an uproar from fans of both clubs.
By 2024, all that was behind him with his transfer to the Gli Azzurri, where he notched 14 goals and 10 assists in 36 appearances that season. Then came the injury and the struggle to be ready for the World Cup. Garcia selected him despite the fitness issues.
“Romelu has recovered, but he’s out of shape,” Garcia said at the time of the selection announcement. “But he’s our best striker, Belgium’s all-time leading scorer.”
He didn’t get to add to that record this time around, but still made the difference. Something he’s likely to do more of as the tournament progresses.