The Belgium attacker admits he has been taken aback by the form of his side’s Round of 16 opponents at the World Cup so far

Belgium attacker Dries Mertens admits he has been shocked by the USA’s progress to the last 16 of the World Cup, but is sure his own side have the quality to reach the quarter-finals.

Jurgen Klinsmann’s side finished second in Group G at the expense of Portugal and Ghana to book a knockout tie with the Red Devils, and Napoli star Mertens says they have really impressed him so far.

“I think they did really well, I was a little surprised,” Mertens told reporters at Belgium’s Mogi das Cruzes training base. “I watched their games and they have a really good team. They have a great striker in front and the team behind is like a team, they are really good together.

“So for us it is going to be really difficult to score a goal, but we are confident and want to win this game also.”

While Belgium won all three of their fixtures in Group H, Marc Wilmots’ men have managed only four goals so far against Russia, South Korea and Algeria.

Mertens, however, is sure that things will click in front of goal for them soon.

“We know against a team that plays with 10 players behind the ball it will be difficult to score, and that’s how we played the three games. I think this game is going to be the same,” he said.

“I think the most important thing is to win this game, because if we don’t win it we are out.”

Reserve goalkeeper Simon Mignolet insists that the Belgians will not underestimate the opposition when they meet in Salvador on Tuesday.

“I know everybody’s saying we are the favourites but everybody knows how good the United States are, and you don’t get out of a group with Germany, Portugal and Ghana to go into the second round if you’re not a good team,” Mignolet stressed.

“The United States are here on merit, and it will be a very difficult game for us on Tuesday. Obviously we have already competed with the United States twice in recent years, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy one.”

The Chelsea manager believes the length of the suspension is correct but feels the Liverpool striker should still be able to attend matches during his four months out

Jose Mourinho says Luis Suarez’s suspension for biting Giorgio Chiellini is deserved but the Chelsea manager admits he cannot justify the forward’s stadium ban.

The Liverpool forward received a nine-match international suspension and a four-month global ban from Fifa for biting Chiellini during Uruguay’s win over Italy on Tuesday.

Due to the stipulation of his suspension which prevents him from attending any football match, Suarez was not inside the Maracana as Uruguay were dumped out of the World Cup after being beaten 2-0 by Colombia in their last-16 fixture on Saturday.

“I think the punishment is deserved because it is an accumulation of [incidents where Suarez has committed] the same negative act on the football pitch,” Mourinho told Yahoo.

“What I really don’t like in football is the stadium ban. What’s the problem for Suarez to be in the stadium, in the middle of the Uruguay supporters watching the game between his country and Colombia?

“It’s too hard, it’s something that I really don’t understand.

“If his punishment comes as a sequence of three similar mistakes in three different situations, it is something that he deserves. It has to stop.”

The Uruguay centre-half has launched an astonishing attack against Fifa after the penalty imposed on the striker, accusing the governing body of a breach of human rights

Diego Lugano has lashed out at the sanctions imposed on his Uruguay teammate Luis Suarez, describing his record ban as “an act of brutality.”

Fifa imposed a nine-game international ban and suspended Suarez from all football-related activity for four months after finding him guilty of biting Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay’s final Group D clash last Tuesday.

The Liverpool forward was absent for Saturday’s 2-0 second-round defeat Colombia and, following la Celeste’s World Cup exit, Lugano fumed at the injustice he saw in the punishment.

“It’s a breach of human rights that a player cannot go into a stadium where there are 80,000 people or into a hotel with his teammates, that he cannot work for four months,” the 33-year-old defender told a press conference.

“He has committed a crime, but this [ban] is barbarity. Not even a criminal would receive this penalty.”

Uruguay struggled without Suarez in the Maracana against los Cafeteros, offering little response to James Rodriguez’s two strikes, and Lugano stressed that he was not surprised that they encountered difficulties without their star man.

“He is irreplaceable,” the centre-back said of Suarez.

“Against Colombia we weren’t able to replace the skills he has. For years he has been our best player.

“Us losing him is much worse even than Brazil losing Neymar or Argentina losing [Lionel] Messi.”

Edinson Cavani, however, denied that the furore around Suarez had distracted the Uruguay camp leading up to the game.

“From the moment we knew about the sanction, we only thought about Colombia,” the Paris Saint-Germain striker said.

“We knew it was a tough penalty, both for him and for us, but from that moment we separated ourselves from it and we concentrated on our players.”