World Cup 2022: Big disappointment for Belgium, eliminated!

Posted On: December 2, 2022

Belgium, nonetheless in control of their destiny, fell to Croatia and entered the World Cup exit door.

SourceAFP

Kevin De Bruyne, disappointed after Belgium’s exit.
© JACK GUEZ / AFP

Published on 1/12/2022 at 6:22 p.m
– Changed 01/12/2022 at 7:08 p.m

Lhe return of the Seum… Semifinalist beaten by France in 2018 left Belgium World Championship in the first round after a 0-0 draw against Croatia. Lukaku crunched the hand late in the game and squandered three big chances. After the game, Belgium coach Roberto Martinez announced his retirement. “I’m saying goodbye to the national team and it’s full of emotions, as you can imagine,” the Spaniard said at a press conference. He has been in charge of the Red Devils since 2016.

Luka Modric and his teammates, unlucky finalists from the previous edition, continue the adventure. Second in Group F, dominated by Morocco (Thursday’s winner Canada), the men will meet the first in Group E, Spain, Germany, Costa Rica and Japan in a checkerboard pattern on Monday.

The disappointment must be immense for the so-called golden generation of Courtois, Hazard, who only came on at the very end of the game, and De Bruyne, who may have had his last card in a major tournament this autumn Qatar. For some Belgian players well into their thirties (like defenders Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld) this meeting therefore looked like a jubilee.

ALSO READWorld Cup 2022: Morocco repeats the feat of 1986Victorious but struggling against Canada (1-0) before falling to Morocco (0-2), the Red Devils, who were due to win on Thursday to continue the adventure, failed to score. However, the chances didn’t pass up at the end of the game after Lukaku’s cross.

Lukaku, so close to the goal…

Even if it means elimination, the players from the lowlands want to do it in “warrior” mode, captain Eden Hazard had warned on the eve of the shock. The Spanish coach of Belgium has also given his all, surprising the game with four changes ahead of the game against the team that lost the water (0-2) to Morocco four days earlier. Instead of relying on Hazard (and leaving the Eden brothers and Thorgan on the bench), Roberto Martinez preferred to fill the flanks with Yannick Carrasco and Dries Mertens. And at the top, Romelu Lukaku recovering and still unable to start a game, it was Leandro Trossard who was to blame for developing into a false 9.

By aiming three arrows at the outposts, Martinez thought he was surprising. But it was the Croatians who created the first chance in the tenth second with a poorly aimed shot from Ivan Perisic. The Belgians had another big scare from the 16th^e minute when a penalty awarded for a Carrasco foul was finally overturned after Kramaric was declared offside by the VAR. Incidentally, in 2018 we only saw snippets of the so attractive team that was at the top of the Fifa rankings for almost four years. Mainly thanks to the arrival of Romelu Lukaku (who had only played 38 minutes since the end of August) at the break, which put a direct strain on the game.

ALSO READWorld Cup 2022: Beaten by Argentina, Poland is waiting for the bluesThe all-time top scorer (65 goals) headed his first chance three minutes after his promotion, then served as a very valuable support for the players in the second row and then found Dominik Livakovic’s goal post on the hour, but against the Croatians who needing only a draw to qualify, the Belgians exposed themselves to counterattacks, forcing Thibaut Courtois to make brilliant interventions four times (50, 53, 54, 67).^e).

And Lukaku will long regret the missed chances in the final seconds, like in the 90s^ewhen he only had to push the ball into the empty goal instead of cushioning it with his chest.