Belgium winger Jeremy Doku flies back to London for birth of son

[p]"Jeremy received news before yesterday's ‌match that the birth was imminent," said the ‌team doctor, Brahim Hacene, in a statement from ‌the Belgian federation.[/p][p]"As he had already been receiving appropriate medical treatment for several days, he was ‌able to fly without medical risk ⁠to be with ‌his family during this very special moment.[/p][p]"[b]He was accompanied ​by my colleague, Dr. Brecht De Coninck. Everything went perfectly, and the ​mother, father, and baby are all doing wonderfully. Jeremy will rejoin the squad tomorrow (Tuesday) evening ⁠in Seattle[/b]," Hacene ​added.[/p][embed guid="c8fcf634-fd71-47c9-924a-cbe2fef80015" url="https://x.com/BelRedDevils/status/2069110450650824891" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/doku-jeremy/lMHcYK4f/"]Doku[/a] missed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/belgium/GbB957na/"]Belgium[/a]'s 1-1 draw with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iran/xrRx85iA/"]Iran[/a] in Los Angeles on Sunday, having been ruled out on the eve of the game by ‌coach Rudi Garcia.[/p][p]"He can't play, and so we'll be playing without him," Garcia had said at the pre-match news conference, adding that Doku was still recovering from illness. "I knew since Friday that he won't be playing.[/p][p]"I don't want to get players to play if they're not medically up for the game. I ‌can get players to play even if they're ​not 100 percent physically, but 100 percent ‌medically is more important."[/p][p]Belgium, who have drawn their opening two games at the World Cup against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/egypt/bejDn7NN/"]Egypt[/a] and Iran, are next up against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/new-zealand/rLctHkpU/"]New Zealand[/a] in Vancouver [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/belgium-GbB957na/new-zealand-rLctHkpU/?mid=jwT97ZAb"]on ⁠Friday in their ⁠final Group G ‌fixture[/a].[/p][infobox id="4ccc1b10-d68f-4c97-bcf4-5e613c17c2e3" /]