In the last match of Group H Belgium took 0n the Republic of Korea. After having scraped by Algeria, Russia, and South Korea, a lot of people have started questioning the Red Devils ability to compete.
Alec Rivera, a fellow co-worker, has perfectly summed up the Belgians performance so far by tweeting: “Anyone else notice Belgium has been anemic this World Cup? Biggest letdown so far…there’s an opening for the USA.”
Against Algeria they looked tremendously mediocre and they even conceded first. It took the Belgians around 45 minutes to equalize and another ten to pull ahead; they grabbed the three points without impressing. Similar story against Russia. Both teams (Russia and Belgium) didn’t provide any decent opportunities until the 88th minute when Eden Hazard provides his usual ‘game-winning’ magic with an dazzling run to assist Divock Origi (the 19-year-old forward is also the youngest Belgian to ever score at a World Cup.) In their last group stage match, Belgium put out a considerably weakened lineup after having already qualified for the second round.
Against South Korea, Marc Wilmots decided to give Hazard, Lukaku, Witsel, De Bruyne, Kompany and Vermaelen a rest, with the latter two having minor injuries. A mediocre first half went by with the only highlight being Steven Defours cleats up tackle on a South Korean. Belgium were put heavily under pressure in some moments throughout the first half and Courtois saved them on a couple of occasions.
The last 45 minutes it was much of the same from the European sid, uninspired and boring. Apart from Vertonghen’s goal, Belgium did close to nothing in the attacking thirds. This is not what many people expected, especially from a team who went undefeated in the qualifiers.
Next up for them is the USA. The USA have been playing with confidence and passion, in the World Cup those two are key to winning games.
Furthermore, Belgium have been reckless in their group stage games when it comes to fouls. They received four yellow cards and one red card and their frustration is showing. The weather has played a big part this World Cup and the Belgians’s performances might be affected by that. They are getting the results, just not the way they want and they are not convincing anyone with their lackadaisical performances.
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