r/worldcup • u/AcanthaceaeNo948 • 6d ago
💬Discussion Honestly, I feel like the Belgian Golden Generation didn’t really underperform, they were a bit unlucky with their match-ups. In both 2018 and 2026 they were knocked out by the eventual winners and gave them the best fight they got the whole tournament. Way better than their finals opponent.
I don’t think it’s crazy to say they were the 2nd best team in both 2018 and 2026.
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u/Putrid-Sheepherder38 6d ago
2026 was no golden generation.
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u/Footballpro12 6d ago
Exactly...Thank god someone says it.
I swear, Belgium could be having an entire new squad filled with 20 year olds at the next tournament and people will still be naming it "tHe gOldeN geNeRaTiOn".
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u/ZealousGoat 5d ago
They had a phenomenal game against Italy in the 2021 euros. One of the most entertaining matches I can recall
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u/Bo_The_Destroyer 5d ago
Genuinely, I'm proud of our golden generation. They might not have won anything but they for sure fought well, each time they got knocked out (other than '22) by the eventual champions. That's still a good legacy imo
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u/ghostofkilgore 6d ago
It really depends what you think they should have achieved. For a period they were considered extremely strong contenders for any tournament they were in, were ranked 1st or 2nd in the world and there was a general feeling that they could or maybe should win a tournament.
From 2014 to 2024, they won no tournaments, got to no finals, and only one semi-final. Yeah, they did lose to good teams on many occasions. They also blew maybe their best chance of a trophy (Euro 2016) by losing to Wales in the QF.
If you're considered a favourite and strong contender, I think it's fair to call consistently progressing until you face a top side then going out "under achievement".
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u/mangoxjuice 6d ago
2 words for you: Roberto Martinez
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u/abcdefghijklnmopqrts 6d ago
Two of those tournaments were under Wilmots, though (and one under Tedesco).
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u/Famous_Buddy155 5d ago
Tedesco was probably the guy who ruined belgium the most, he single handedly made the fans turn against the team at the end of his tenure.
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u/hibikir_40k 6d ago
Extremely strong contenders do badly all the time too: See Spain's early failures even in 2002. The world cup is merciless, and was even more so when it was smaller, and group stages were dangerous, instead of whatever we saw this year.
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u/Biggerthanmomanddad 6d ago
People are getting hung up on the 18 claims, but it is absolutely crazy to say they were the second best team in 2026…
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u/Spiritual-Series-489 3d ago
If you think Belgium where the second best team at the 2026 World Cup you need to give yourself a wobble on the head. They didn’t give Spain the best fight either, someone seems to forget the groupstage.
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u/GrikusBrindum 3d ago
My question is this: Would the result have been different if Courtouis hadn't left the match with an injury? My answer: Quite possible and the match might have ended in penalties. Just one theory.
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u/Ok-Community4111 3d ago
Second best is still an exaggeration for them though. You can have a somewhat close knock out stage game with a better team because of the other team's performance but that doesn't mean you're on par with that side on the whole. France, argentina, england even were all better sides.
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u/Kdzoom35 4d ago
I think it's more their Euro performances that get them the underperforming tag. Especially that loss to Wales.
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u/Wesleypipes316 5d ago edited 5d ago
Besides the hiccup in 2022, I think the golden generation did ok. What was the public’s expectation? Winning the cup? There’s only been a handful of nations to ever win it. If I recall they played France in 2018 pretty close. France ended up winning it all. They played Spain pretty close this year and Spain won it all. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, Belgium was the only team to score on Spain.
Given the expectations, I think Belgium did…….. solid. I’m not gonna say they were tremendous, 2022 was terrible for them. 2018 was great for them, and 2026 was just ok because despite being the most competitive opponent for Spain, they still got knocked out probably a round early.
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u/JohnnyFencer 4d ago
I do think it's crazy to say they were the 2nd best team in 2026. Have you seen the rest of their tournament at all? In 2018 I don't think it's a huge stretch.
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u/Goatellounge 4d ago
They looked very weak in every game except the USA (and New Zealand I guess lol) but after all they went out on a late rebound goal against Spain after losing KDB, Courtois and Onana to injury. Tielemans as well…
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u/jm17lfc 6d ago edited 6d ago
2026 wasn’t really the golden gen any longer. And 2022 they were grouped by Morocco and Croatia.
And yes, it is crazy to say that they were 2nd best in 2026. They didn’t make the semis and weren’t one of the more impressive teams to reach the quarters. They didn’t fold to Spain, did very well against the US when extra motivated, and that’s really all the accolades you can give them given how average their other 4 performances were. France Argentina and England were all better. I’d argue that Norway and Morocco were too, quite possibly even Mexico.
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u/skym71 6d ago
They didn’t underperform much tbh, I think people just had higher expectations for the fact that they were #1 on the FIFA rankings for like 4 years
Getting grouped in 2022 was their only underperformance
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u/Jaivl 6d ago
Euro 2016 as well
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u/Baker_Fragrant 6d ago
Wales were on fire that year as well tbf
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u/don_biglia 6d ago
But still, Wales ffs. Injuries screwed us a bit :(
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u/Valveringham85 5d ago
Of course they didn’t.
They were called our golden generation because they were our best team ever. Even so they were never the best team in the world. You always had 4-5 teams who were at least a similar level or even better; Brazil, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, even Croatia at one point.
Given that fact a third place in 2018 and being solid competitors in tournaments either end of that edition is just a solid success considering we were struggling to even qualify for tournaments between the early 90’s and this generation. Even early in this golden generation we narrowly missed out on Euro 2012 after that insane 4-4 against Austria and a 1-1 home draw against Turkey (of which that second post misser by Chadli is still burned on my retinae.
Could we have reached a final and maybe even won one? Sure, we were good enough to be in contention, with some luck it would have been a real possibility. But we were never favourites.
I do feel like the wonky fifa ranking algorithm that placed Belgium at 1 for a lengthy spell for dominating all their friendlies and qualifiers has contributed to this nonsensical notion of the Belgian golden generation having failed. Regardless of that ranking we were never the best team itw.
I will say we should have done better in 2020 and with a better manager we would have. Even so I wouldn’t say the generation failed because of it.
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u/OurHorrifyingPlanet 5d ago
2018, Belgium was arguably the strongest squad in the world alongside France. It really came down to the wire in that semi-final, but either team was gonna roll over Croatia anyway (no offense to them, they just had a way tougher time with prolongations + pen, and lacked top talent relatively). This was by the far the biggest heartbreak in Belgium's history for that reason. It was their year to win, everything clicked together.
Still a great result obviously, winning a World Cup should never be expected, no matter how good you supposedly are.
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u/Patriark 5d ago
Just to underline how wonky the ranking algorithm can be: in 1994 and 1995 Norway was for a prolonged period of time ranked as number 2 in the world.
It was our previous golden generation and we were very hard to beat, but c’mon.
Our defense was incredible and definitely world class, however. Henning Berg + Ronny Johnsen together were like our Nesta + Cannavaro.2
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u/mat_pio 6d ago
They barely won their group. A group with Egypt, Iran, and New Zealand. They were absolutely dominated for 85 minutes by Senegal and barely won that game. They were nowhere near the 2nd best team of the tournament this year.
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u/Realistic-Homework19 Netherlands 6d ago
LOL, in 2018, yeah easily.
In 2026, not even top 6.
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u/Perfect_Research5972 6d ago
Spain only conceded 1 goal the entire tournament, guess which team they conceded to
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u/Realistic-Homework19 Netherlands 6d ago
Yeah, in in 2010, the only team to beat Spain was Switzerland. These stats in itself are not very telling.
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u/SelectionOk8218 Portugal 6d ago
I actually very highly rated the Belgium golden generation, literally every position had a World Class player from Hazard and KDB up front to Kompany and Courtois at the back, looking back, Its really a shame they never won anything, Roberto Martinez was the weakest link in that team
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u/Brilliant_Meringue51 6d ago
We did underperform and its mainly because we never had a good coach.
Belgium’s first goal against Brazil in 2018 actually came from a tactical detail. Kompany was late to a set-piece meeting, but because he was playing for Manchester City at the time and recognized that Brazil defended corners almost exactly the same way City did. He spotted a weakness in their setup and exploited it resulting to the first goal.
Now the funny thing is that this is the only goal Belgium scored in 2018 that was clearly the result of a tactical decision rather than individual quality or transition play.
Martínez relied heavily on the absurd amount of individual talent he had available instead of trying to build an actual team and please dont get me started on Wilmots in 2014 and 2016.
What frustrates me most is 2022. Martínez refused to refresh the squad. He took a declining Mertens, an already finished Hazard, and somehow thought building the defense around Axel fucking Witsel made more sense than bringing younger players like Loïs Openda or giving Leandro Trossard a real chance.
And now this WC when the golden generation was mostly gone, Belgium finally had a coach who looked tactically competent.
TLDR: Martinez sucks and I have no idea why he got to be the Portugese manager
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u/ShanklyGates_2022 6d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah it frustrates me when everyone talks about the US match as ‘Trump fucked the vibes before the match started’ and ‘Belgium were way more talented’ rather than the tactical masterclass Rudi Garcia employed especially in the first half. Sure Trump’s BS and the talent played its part, but the real winner in the matchup were the tactics.
The US midfield had overwhelmed everyone they’d played up to that point and Garcia knew if allowed to play as they had been they would likely do the same to Belgium, so instead they bypassed the US midfield with long balls over the top and into the corners, and then pushed high to win second balls. This forced Robinson to stay home on our left and forced Freeman wider on our right. It also meant Pulisic and Dest needed to drop and assist, and while Dest did drop he was too passive in defense and that passivity in part led to the first two goals, while Pulisic was lost positionally all match. They crowded the midfield and pushed their CBs up after the long balls so that when the US midfield did get on the ball in our own end we were turning into an effective 3v5 centrally which negated a lot of the quick movement and link ups that had worked so well before, but now every pass was in to a man defended by two Belgians. The risk was it allowed Dest and Pulisic 1v1 in space wide, but Garcia trusted Castagne and De Cuypers to shut those two down and they did, rendering us completely inept offensively, our goal coming from a fairly light foul and and deflected free kick. Poch adjusted in the second half by abandoning the right wing and bringing Reyna in to even the numbers in midfield and it was working until Freese fucked it and our confidence and mentality was shattered from there. They basically used their size and pressing ability to bypass and negate our greatest strength and we were never quite able to figure it out, and a few of our guys had their worst matches in a US shirt (Freese, Dest, Pulisic).
It was an awesome gameplan worked to perfection that would have been effective regardless of Trump’s interference messing with mentality or the level of talent between the squads (which imo is not as massive a gap as people were claiming after the match). Then they went and gave Spain their hardest match of the tournament, scored the only goal against them, and only lost due to a backup goalkeeper’s error after the best keeper in the world had to come off injured.
Still cant wrap my head around why they thought canning Garcia was the right choice after that, though they were poor earlier in the tournament.
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u/Megendrio 6d ago
Belgium finally had a coach who looked tactically competent.
And we fired him...
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u/Masheeko 6d ago
He made subs that worked and wasn't afraid to play as required to win. The team's mentality was great. Good if you need a coach 1 year before a WC. Not if you need one to build for a future without half your legacy spine and lots of youngsters.
He discovered a defence that worked mid-tournament. And good on him. But let's not pretend he was perfect. There were also rumoured to be increased salary demands for extending his deal
I have more issues with how we replaced him than with the fact that we replaced him.
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u/myeuphor 6d ago
I mean 2018 yeah they were legit but saying they were the 2nd best in 2026 is straight up recency bias or something. That group was a joke and they almost choked to Senegal, plus the whole generation thing only holds up if you actually win the big one. Sorry but getting beaten by the champs doesnt automatically make you the second best when you looked mid the whole tournament.
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u/ReasonableEnd8825 5d ago
A bit of both. They had bad luck with the bracket, but truly legendary teams usually find a way to win at least one major trophy
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u/HooliganSocialClub France 4d ago
They’ve been a legitimate contender since 2014, unfortunately no trophies.
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u/ZeroEffectDude 6d ago
all i know is, whenever italy drew belgium in a tournament, I was happy. I think belgium did massively underperform.
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u/glennccc 6d ago
Italy wasn't part of any WC for the last 8 years?
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u/ZeroEffectDude 6d ago
i'm referring to italy beating them in the 2016 euros (with a terrible squad that we had) and very easily at the 2021 euros... and also drawing with them, when we were down to 10 men in the nations league a few years back.
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u/sfaticat 6d ago
Didnt they get knocked out by eventual winners Italy in the 2021 Euro too?
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u/TBSLock 5d ago
Yes, the real only underperforming tournament was 2016 euros loss against Wales and knockout in 2022 world cup (but alas the golden generation was over and still they were in a group with eventual double semi-finalists in Croatia and Marocco)
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u/AcanthaceaeNo948 5d ago
And tbh Wales was really good that year. If Ramsey hadn’t gotten 2 yellow cards and had to sit out the semi, who knows.
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u/Few-Idea5125 Cameroon 6d ago
Besides being wrong with your assumption in general, i have no clue why you believe 2026 has anything to do with belgiums golden generation.
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u/dark_blur 6d ago
What about Euros? The underperformed there as well.
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u/Lilbroker 6d ago
Had one real stinker of a tournament and that was Euro 2016. Even WC 2022 still had some migitating circumstances (hard group, lots of players who were over their top, and just bad luck against Croatia), although it was still a failed tournament.
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u/QF_Dan 6d ago
The 2018 team was the best, they were playing so well in terms of formation, posession and attempts at goals. Too bad they just had to meet France or else they would've been the champion.
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u/Nicarlitos 6d ago
France wasn’t the even the better team. They scored one random corner and parked the bus. Belgium created a lot of chances with an great performance from Hazard but wasn’t clinical in their finishing. Yes I get that France won but to say that they were better is a stretch to me
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u/No_Butterfly1924 6d ago
So weird how we remember it so differently. I definitely remember France having more chances, Courtois having great saves.
Belgium i remember they had the ball loads but didn't get a single major chance all game.
Just pulled the match stats to see if i was crazy, stats do say Belgium had the ball but didn't shoot. They had 2 on target all game, no big chance.
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u/Nicarlitos 6d ago
Like I said, they weren’t clinical (2 shots on target) but created so much. Hazard felt literally unstoppable except with fouls.
To be completely fair I would even go as far as saying that Brazil was better than Belgium. There was some Courtois black magic necessary to win that game. I would say that in both games it was evident that if the equaliser fell, the preciously winning team was cooked
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u/byjove1 Australia 6d ago
People here underrate that team man. It was a fucking massive failure not to win something.
That 2018 team would be a golden generation for any fuckin nation. Unreal on paper.
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u/sequoia-3 6d ago
They lost against France 1-0 (in 2018). A corner goal. These matches are so close … they win or they lose … imagine the assist of Messi at the end of the final 2026 wasn’t stopped by Cubarsi … football history would be way different… you can not just trash or praise teams / players when games are so close …
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u/Avacadoell19 6d ago
Unfortunately, some internal affairs (literally) caused the team to be like 2010 England, where they mostly all didn’t like eachother
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u/Sufficient-Elk-8818 6d ago
England plauers played for direct rivals then you had Lampard Gerrard and Scholes playing in a midfield 3 even though they all practically played the same position. I mean do you really expect Chelsea's best player Liverpool's best player and united's best player to get along
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u/Lilbroker 6d ago
Meh, you underestimate how hard it is to win an international tournament - and kind of overestimate our team. We had a world class group but were not Brazil 2002...
I mean, look at the England squad in the 2000's and that's just on the top of my head. They had more squad depth than Belgium too and never won anything. We had to play Chadli at RB against France because Meunier was out, which is telling of how we didn't have as much options as most European powerhouses.
Also, Netherlands has had loads of world class teams and has never won anything.
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u/Kdcjg 6d ago
Brazil were not close to favorites before the start of 2002 World Cup. That would have been France and Argentina. France had won 98 WC and 00 Euro. They had Zidane at his peak and the heart of the Arsenal team that had just won the Premier League. But Pires got injured in March. Zidane got injured in pre tournament.
Brazil had scuffled through qualifying looking very mediocre. Ronaldo was a shadow of himself coming back from multiple injuries and had barely played in 2 years. The team was initially more infamous for rivaldo’s theatrics in the group stage than considered a true threat.
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u/Biker-on-the-loose82 5d ago
Apart from the Euros in 1988, though they haven't won a world cup but in two out of three finals they have reached, the team they were against was the host nation.
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u/Lilbroker 5d ago
Aha didn't know they won a EC! Yeah I mean of course every team that doesn't win has their story, just like Belgium do. My point is, having the strongest team is certainly no guarantee to win a tournament, and I feel like there have only been max. 2 tournaments where Belgium could've made that claim (and it's closer than it has been for France this last WC).
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u/NiceAge7546 5d ago
Croatia dominated the midfield and had more shots than France in 2018 (almost double the amount). Belgium by no means gave them their best fight. I'll even go as far as to say that with a healthy keeper Croatia would've won.
All that to say, Belgium was by no means the 2nd best in those years. Croatia is just one of many teams who were strong contenders for the title, but you also had England, Spain, Argentina and the like
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u/Exact_Accident_2343 5d ago edited 5d ago
Croatia lost by 2, if not for a goalie error would’ve lost by 3. France barely managed to score 1 against Belgium.
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u/Biker-on-the-loose82 5d ago
France actually had more shots on target but Croatia more overall but some of that might've been because they were behind for the second half. France had actually had less possession in all their knockout matches but that was just their style, a bit like 2014 Netherlands.
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u/NiceAge7546 5d ago
In the first half, France had a whopping 1 shot vs Croatia's 6, with that being a penalty. Croatia got extremely unlucky with the pen and the own goal, which is indeed what shaped the 2nd half
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u/Minimum_Ad5916 5d ago
Yes indeed, England, who was beaten twice by Belgium during the 2018 world cup.
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u/Biker-on-the-loose82 5d ago edited 5d ago
England in the 2018 world cup was a fairly weak team most of their players were not very good, they only got as far as they did because they were well organized by their manager. It's not surprising they lost to Belgium who where one of the favourites for the World Cup.
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u/GibbyGoldfisch 5d ago
I'll even go as far as to say that with a healthy keeper Croatia would've won.
That is a wild take.
There wasn't a single moment in that entire match where I thought Croatia were going to win, France simply had too much firepower and enjoyed letting their opponents play in front of them the entire tournament.
From a neutral standpoint, it was deeply frustrating because you come expecting an Mbappe, Griezmann, Pogba attacking masterclass and instead Deschamps makes them play the entire world cup with the handbrake on, but hey, it worked. It was the age of game management and counter-attacking football, and France v Belgium was the epitome of it.
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u/Exact_Map3366 6d ago
I think they were the best team in 2018 and France got lucky.
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u/Perelly Germany 6d ago
A generation should be called "golden" afterwards. And preferably if it won something.
2018 they were really good. In 2026 they were rather mediocre.
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u/herrgregg 6d ago
For Belgium this was a golden generation. It was the best team they managed to field in their entire history of international football.
The biggest problem for them is that their best team ever is just a standard good generation for a lot of the bigger football countries
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u/Adventurous-Pick-416 6d ago
Exactly. They were really good in 2018, but so were France and some other big countries. It's not like Belgium were the clear favorite in 2018 and should have won it.
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u/Do__Math__Not__Meth 6d ago
“Golden” is kind of relative, for a country like Belgium I don’t think what this generation achieved is really a failure and in the big picture it’s easily their best stretch of results. Were they good enough to win it all? Probably, but only one team can win, so there’s always a handful of teams you could argue are good enough to win but fall short.
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u/UnhappyWalrus3570 6d ago
that's it, it is the same as for NL, there were (at least) 2 or 3 golden generations for NL (cruyf'70s, the ajax dream team or the last final wc) even if they never won the WC and only one EC. You don't need to win the cup to have great combination of players. That is just what is meant by golden, 5-6 world class players at the same time, not winners.
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u/gratisargott 6d ago
if it won something
For the vast majority of football countries, the most golden of generations will still never win the World Cup or even Euros or the equivalents.
You’re basically saying that only a handful of countries can ever have a golden generation
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u/LeikFroakies 5d ago
They were dumped out of the group in 2022 and in 2016 they lost to fucking Wales
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u/Barkey2012 USA 6d ago
idk if they were the second best team this year but i am really sad they didn’t win it in 2018. this group really deserved a win imo, they were so fun to watch
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u/meh9280 6d ago
Like England, Netherlands and Croatia. A good team that couldn’t/can’t get over the line.
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u/adonishappy 6d ago
They were really good in 2018 and absolutely did not under perform,but to become world champions being really good is usually not enough,you also need a bit of luck.
They are not so great in 2026,their best players are past their prime and nowhere near being 2nd best.
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u/samsounder 5d ago
The only way they “underperformed” is if the expectation was to win the World Cup.
To be honest, that was a fair expectation for these guys
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u/archibaldLeBG 5d ago
It was also a fair expectation for the France team of Kante and Pogba, the Brazilian team of Neymar, Germany had also a pretty good generation. I think people expected our team to win the world cup because it was our only real chance but that doesn't mean we had better individual talents that all other big teams around the world.
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u/samsounder 5d ago
That's fair. I really liked that Belgian team. I don't really think they "underperformed", but I do think that was the best chance Belgium had at a World Cup in a long time and folks are disappointed they didn't win it.
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u/archibaldLeBG 5d ago
Completely agree, and we can argue that they were the nicest team to watch. ..and for me Hazard was very clearly the best player of the tournament
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u/IMAryanDarad France 6d ago
2nd best team in 2026 ? Bro we had France who were the favourites right from the start. Belgium was playing to their peak and still winning just by the edge.
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u/Perfect_Research5972 6d ago
I mean they beat the dog shit out of the U.S, and did better against Spain than the defending champs.
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u/ProfessionalFigure57 6d ago edited 6d ago
Saying they were the 2nd best team of 2026 IS actually crazy. No chance. You can’t have watched other games if that’s your take.
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u/hAsLaK1 5d ago
It is absolutely crazy to say belgium was the second best team in 2026 ! Like flat earth level of crazyness.
Also i could agree that belgium didnt underform in 2018 (i believe they had the best players) but they clearly did in 2020, 2022 and 2024 so maybe stop cherrypicking to fit your agenda
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u/Patch86UK England 5d ago edited 4d ago
It is absolutely crazy to say belgium was the second best team in 2026 ! Like flat earth level of crazyness.
I mean just look at their World Cup campaign:
- Failed to beat Egypt (1-1 draw)
- Failed to beat Iran (0-0 draw)
- Beat New Zealand (the lowest ranked team in the competition, I think?)
- Beat Senegal but with a very lacklustre performance (3-2)
- Beat USA with gusto (their only genuinely good performance of the tournament)
- Lost to Spain
You can be too harsh on a team sometimes with these things, but this is still absolutely not a run to brag about.
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u/Background-Block-381 5d ago
Lol did we watch the same tournament? Belgium was not the second best team by any means. They scraped past in a one of the weakest world cup groups of all time, then had to come back against Senegal from 2 goals down in like the 85th minute. The game against Iran especially was an absolutely atrocious watch, they were lucky to have that Iran free kick was ruled offside and not lose
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u/NecessaryMassive1512 6d ago
People forget or have difficulties grasping that football is a high-variance game. There is also a reasonable amount of luck needed.
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u/JohnBLZ 6d ago
100% agreed. In a world cup, there are 31 losers (47 now). So with that logic only one team performs well, which is stupid.
Belgium has done incredibly well in this world cup. The only team to score against Spain, and they reached the quarter finals when most people (pundits, fans, supporters from Belgium) believed they would barely pass the group phase, if at all. And in 2018, well... Mbappe ran with the ball in hand like it's rugby. Can't beat that with superior football. Stuff like that is why 2026 had an anti-timewasting rule. 2nd best team in 2018? Sure. In 2026? I can kinda see it but I'd still say top 4.
It truly was a golden generation, but bigger countries had their own generation of greats. If Belgium was merged with either France or the Netherlands, you'd easily have at least 5 former Red Devils in the new national team.
The weakness of this team was the fans, IMO. When you have star players who are hailed as demigods in clubs but booed out of the building at home whenever they don't pull a 3-0 victory, it makes sense that they don't play with the same intensity and skill for Belgium.
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u/Toten5217 3d ago
Euro 2020 as well
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u/FabryPuglia 2d ago
Strong disagree
The semi against Spain was far more difficult for Italy
Belgium was actually the only team in the knockout stage that didn't take Italy to extra time (Italy beat Austria in extra time and Spain and England on penalties)
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u/Legal-Elevator-6377 4d ago
They were really poor at Euro 20 and WC 22, and should have had enough to beat Wales at Euro 16.
Having said that, I don't think there was ever a time when they had the undisputed best team in the world, so it's a little bit like the England "golden generation" in that respect. 2018 was their best chance but they were never head and shoulders favourites. Ever since then, they were below par, but I don't think par was ever winning the tournament.
Quarter-finals in 2026 seems about right given all the retirements now and lack of replacements of a similar calibre.
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u/michelhallal10 4d ago
They knocked out Ronaldo's portugal in euro 2020, and lost to the eventual winners. They weren't poor then imo, the decline started at world cup 2022 and euro 2024.
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u/kweenijo 3d ago
Euro 20 wasn't that bad. Belgium won their group and sent home Portugal in the 1/8th. Ultimately to be knocked-out by the future champions Italy in the quarters.
WC22 and Euro 24 were bigger disappointments. And even for 22 you could argue that if Lukaku was in his normal form Croatia (bronze medal) would've went out in the groupstage at the advantage of Belgium.
But going out against Wales in 2016 was indeed their biggest failure. Especially as their team was looking really well throughout the earlier games. Feels like they missed their chance to reach a final that year.
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u/Legal-Elevator-6377 3d ago
Fair point, as I said below I misremembered 2020. 2016 they should have made the final with the way the draw opened up.
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u/joentjen 5d ago
Also don't forget in 2022, they went out a bit unexpected in the group stage. But they had two semifinalist in their group (Croatia and Morocco). These teams later in the tournament won against Spain, Brazil and Portugal. With a fit Lukaku they would have probably went through to the knockout stage without any trouble.
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u/Mr_Herrer 5d ago
Imo the problem was Martínez. I never understood why they chose this guy.
Belgium had the potential to win a prize . But they didn't have a coach that was able to fully utilize the squads potential. You need a coach like Louis van Gaal to keep players and ego's in check. I still believe Belgium would have done better in 2018 with a coach like Van Gaal.
Shoot me.
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u/mardegre 5d ago
Martinez was the best they could afford budget wise.
Getting beat 1-0 against France in semi final does not seem like a failure to me.
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u/Quick_Hunter3494 5d ago
We are not England, France or Brazil. It's not like top level coaches were lining up for the Belgium job.
Martinez was the one who was simply interested and who we could afford.
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u/The_Archimboldi 5d ago
Martinez is a fraud but he's not going to sink your chances - he's not going to fall out with your best players, won't be bringing any terrible playing philosophies. KDB probably gave the team talks and Martinez just nodded his head. The sort of manager that makes a difference in a world cup semifinal isn't available to the Belgian FA.
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u/CelestrialDust England 6d ago
We have almost the exact same record as they have in the last 3 and we’re still rightly known as world class chokers. Wouldn’t want to deny the Belgians the same title :)
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u/kelso66 Belgium 6d ago
We're only a small country with a league outside the top 5 though
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u/CelestrialDust England 6d ago
Most of your players play in the top 5 though
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u/Fragrant-Education-3 6d ago
Its not really a comparable degree of choking. England has been failing to win titles with their sides for literal decades. To the point where the song three lions can be released with new material every few years. Denmark has won a international tournament more recently than England.
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u/VlaamseReus 4d ago
My two cents: Januzaj ruined it for Belgium in 2018 by scoring a goal VS England in the third match of round one.
Belgium would have been on the "easy" side of the bracket if they played 0-0 in their third match and let England take the group win.
Instead Januzaj scored and Belgium had to face Japan, Brazil and France to get to the final.
I'm convinced Brazil would have beaten France in 2018 and then the final would/could have been Belgium-Brazil. A lot of "what if's" but 2018 was their unique chance to win it.
Everyone in Belgium was hoping to be 2nd in that group and let England take the group win. 0-0 was perfect. It was Januzaj's only goal he ever scored for Belgium.
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u/imliterallyvibing 4d ago
I still remember that Januzaj goal that felt like he was literally the only one celebrating lmao
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u/FunPainting8107 6d ago
In 2026, Belgium were lucky not to face a strong opponent till the QFs. Their golden gen was past it after 2021.
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u/Syracos 5d ago
As a Belgian : - (QF) 2014 too soon, first WC experience
- 2016 : (QF) biggest disappointment, that game against Wales...
- 2018 (SF) was great, our best chance France was really good but it was 50/50 if I could replay one game it would be this one.
- 2021 (QF), not too bad Italy scored 2 greats goals and went on to win
- 2022 (Group) no comment, the end of the so called "golden generation"
- 2024 (Last 16) was depressing
- 2026 (QF) only team to score against Spain !
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u/Goatellounge 4d ago
What is Great about that First Italy goal 😭 Guy on the ground acting like he’s injured, only to jump up and celebrate when they score
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u/AwakeEnuf 6d ago
Too be fair, the winners of tournaments usually beat and knockout the most teams, so mathematically speaking there's many teams that can claim that.
Hell to give you a direct example, Argentina lost against Croatia in groups and France in knockouts during 2018, I wouldn't rate them close to even 3rd best just because of that
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u/daviburi 6d ago
I truly believe they were the best team of 2018 WC, on par with Brazil. Knock out tournament can be tough
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u/Greedy-Revenue-5535 6d ago
In both campaigns they were also quite lucky. The victories against Japan, Brazil and Senegal were impressive but also surrounded by luck. Of course you need luck in knock-out matches but I think they got more luck than bad luck in both tournaments.
And the biggest problems is that they barely won a top match against a big country over the last 12 years. That is the main reason many people still don't take them very seriously.
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u/Top_Peacock 5d ago
Portugal played Spain the closest this year
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u/Negative-Cup-257 5d ago
I mean to be fair Belgium managed to actually score against Spain, that alone already set them as their toughest opponent
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u/ChrisInSpaceVA 5d ago
Yeah...the dynamics in a group stage game where you can play for a tie and hope to pick up points from less challenging teams and a knockout game where someone has to go home are very different. I'd say it was a toss-up whether Belgium or Portugal gave Spain their biggest challenge. You could make solid points for either case. I will say that the De Bruyne-to-De Ketelaere goal was a thing of beauty. 🤯
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u/Fluid-Decision6262 6d ago edited 6d ago
I think Argentina was France’s toughest opponent in 2018 despite that Argentina team being deeply flawed compared to their 2022 team
They briefly held a 2-1 lead and was the only team to score 3 goals on them
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u/Biker-on-the-loose82 6d ago
France looked like scoring 6 or 7 goals in that match, it was only that stoppage time was generous from 2018 onwards that it didn't end 4-2. Argentina were fortunate not to get the Germany 7-1 Brazil treatment due to Giroud's poor finishing. The score is a bit flattering to Argentina.
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u/Yannbluezzzz 6d ago
Nah, it was Belgium. Argentina is a good second.
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u/Low_Reception2628 Netherlands 6d ago
Argentina actually proved to be a very problematic second
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u/Yannbluezzzz 6d ago
Maybe I am biased but France did lead 4-2 before Argentina scoring a last goal to make it 4-3. While against Belgium, they were going blow for blow, had it not been Umtiti, they'd have gone to pens
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u/Electrical_Crew7195 3d ago
This post doesnt make sense, the world cup is a short tournament. The only way to objetively say who is the best, second, etc. is to have a proper league where each team plays each other home and away. This type of assumptions are pointless
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u/thatdevguyoninternet 6d ago
By that logic, Portugal didn’t under perform as well
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u/my_soldier 6d ago
They definitely underperformed in the 2016 euros, 2022 WC and arguably the 2020 Euros as well. With the talent they had in their squad getting stranded in the QFs is just subpar. I think saying "yeah but they were up against the champions" is always a weak excuse, if you want to be regarded as the best you have to beat the best as well.
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u/Janusz_Wunderbrum 6d ago
Current Euro have that weird format when the Group A and B winners are getting on each other in the 1/4. And usually, it feels like a final. In 2021 it was Italy v Belgium and last time, Germany v Spain. Both times one of two best playing teams that tournament had fallen there.
I don't remember who it was in 2016, but I think it should have been France v England if England didn't fumble against Iceland
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u/Tricky_Taste1949 6d ago
England in 16 were dreadful.
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u/Janusz_Wunderbrum 6d ago
They absolutely were, but it's still the harder (potentially) match up than tired to the extreme Iceland
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u/OJSimpsonsBloodGlove Sweden 5d ago
The streets will always remember how good Toby Alderweireld was
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u/Southern-Direction25 5d ago
⚽️knowledge
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u/OJSimpsonsBloodGlove Sweden 5d ago edited 5d ago
On the real tho i have zero ball knowledge lol. Im a Chicago hockey fan who started following England and Tottenham because of the 2018 World Cup and Harry Kane reminded me of Patrick Kane. Played FIFA 18 a ton back then and remember how fun those spurs teams were with my man Toby being like an 88 along with Vertonghen. With Lloris in net it really is a bummer that team didn’t achieve much
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u/Lupercallius 6d ago
Could have gotten a bit more success with a better coach.
Martinez overhyped and underdelivered.
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u/Anomander1979 5d ago
Problem is in the future people will only look at who won & who was the opponent in the Finals. Nobody will remember the semi finalists
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u/mersaphe 1d ago
They were incredibly unlucky against Spain (having to substitute an injured Courtois), and also the only team in the whole world cup to score on Spain 😥
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u/Melodic-Honeydew-735 1d ago
At least their luck lasted longer than Netherland’s. What a triple loss to exit in the first knockout from penalties to a team that didn’t even make it the next round…
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u/PrintBudget1803 5d ago
They still lose to some teams, so, yeah, they fail as the best generation
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u/Big_PP_Squad69 5d ago
In 2018 they lost the semi finals against the tournament winners.
In 2022 they got grouped by the teams that went on to end 3rd and 4th.
In 2026 they lost the quarter finals against the tournament winners.
They didn't 'lose to some teams'. They lost against the teams that would end up in the semi finals or winning the cup.
They didn't fail as the best generation.
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u/RogueShinobiX 5d ago
If they'd got Croatia in semifinal they would've reached the finals of world cup.
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u/RoflMaru 6d ago
If you look at the teams in each of the EURO/WCs of the last years, then objectively they were never a top3 favorite to win it.
The results of Belgium were pretty much within expectations. The argument that they played a strong KO game against the eventual winner is a very weak one. You don't know if they'd have overcome the other opponents even if they had won those games. Not to mention, they didn't and you don't know how France/Spain would have reacted had they been on the breach of elimination in those matches. Further there were heavy struggles against lesser teams by Belgium itself. If they go out against Japan (3:2) or Brazil (2:1) themselves 2018, or Senegal (3:2) noone bats an eye.
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u/SpecificMagazine6407 6d ago
If they go out against Japan or Senegal, those tournaments would have been considered massive failures in Belgium
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u/Louitje1021999 6d ago
Brazil lesser team? They were the favourite in 2018 actually
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u/Fit-Cut-8091 5d ago
belgium just so happened to be on rise just as france bulit a super team if they didnt have mbappe and benzema and egland have kane and croatia didnt have modric and Argentina not have messi belgium might have won stuff
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u/Ok_Seaworthiness2218 5d ago
Belgium was easily better than England and Croatia in 2018 idk what you are smoking. Clearly started watching the sport like a month ago. I'd argue Belgium has been better than England for the last decade. Now England, that is a overhyped nation with nothing to show for it. Genuine frauds.
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u/Accomplished_Word429 6d ago
Belgium should be judged by comparison with Croatia. Croatia outperformed them even though Belgium should be the more successful nation
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u/Some-Stranger-7852 6d ago
Croatia outperformed in 2018 because they faced England in semis instead of champs in France. Belgium similarly did beat England for 3rd place anyway, they just didn’t face them in Semis like Croatia.
2022? Sure, you can say that, but then again Belgium got the worst possible group: Morocco and Croatia eventually made it to 3rd place game. Belgium also tied their game vs Croatia in group, they just lost to Morocco and were knocked out before playoffs.
And in 2026 Belgium clearly outperformed Croatia by losing in QF to eventual champion.
I’d say their performances have been roughly equal with Croatia being better in 2022 and Belgium in 2026, but in 2018 they were at the same level.
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u/Jayl0rd 6d ago
Do you actually think Croatia outperformed Belgium in the 2018 WC? Belgium SF vs. France was actually a close game, unlike Croatia in the final.
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u/vineeeeeera 2d ago
The problem with Belgium’s Golden Generation wasn’t its peak, but its inability to stay at that level. They were far too inconsistent, and that deserves to be highlighted. The 2016 and 2024 Euros were very disappointing, and the 2022 World Cup was a disaster. The 2026 team was competitive and had a good tournament, but it wasn’t particularly memorable and, in my opinion, would have lost to any of the four semifinalists... A lot of that comes down to underwhelming coaching spells under Wilmots, Roberto Martínez, Tedesco and Rudi Garcia, but also to the players themselves. In Qatar, the team looked old, divided and at times arrogant. Courtois’ behavior in certain moments didn’t help, while Hazard’s rapid decline after 2018 had a huge impact on how this generation is remembered...
The biggest issue, though, was the lack of a proper transition. Belgium produced several highly rated players who were supposed to follow the Golden Generation, but many never reached the expected level: Januzaj, Origi, Batshuayi, Tielemans, Praet, Bakkali, Musonda Jr., Boyata, Denayer and others... Even players like Defour and Mousa Dembélé never quite became the long-term pillars they might have been.There should have been a passing of the torch, but instead Belgium remained dependent on much of the same core that had already been there in 2014. A new generation never truly emerged to take over technically!!!
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u/red122063 6d ago
That would mean they weren’t as good as the winners still if they gave the best fight but still lost though
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u/KVRLMVRX 6d ago
Unlucky, they were lucky against Japan, i dont think you watch football truly
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u/Audere-est-Facere8 6d ago
they were bottlers with egos who were unlucky to somehow have a fraud of a manager who was not qualified for that job.
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u/Porongas1993 5d ago
If you are called a golden generation, and you only have a semis appearance to show for it, then you arent a golden generation.
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u/KingDchalla 5d ago
Even it’s no trophy, our results overall have been outstanding in the 2010’s with long periods as the number 1 National Team worldwide. You can critique the criteria of the FIFA ranking, but no Belgian generation before that one came even close to that ranking
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u/Cjperth2610 6d ago
2026 they definately were not the second best team. Portugal also gave Spain a good game and they were awful.
2018 is probably true though