England finishes fourth in the World Cup after the Eden Hazard wins in Belgium | Soccer

The English players at the final whistle, victims of the best performance of the World Cup in Belgium, have blown a puff of collective cheeks, but this feeling of disappointment will pbad quickly. The young and talented team of Gareth Southgate is proud of this tournament. No other English team has ever improved fourth place that she has claimed, unexpectedly and joyfully, on foreign soil and her exploits must be celebrated.

The real frustration was endured at the Luzhniki stadium in the middle of the week. This post-war reflection in St. Petersburg, a game played in the middle of the Mexican waves and the familiar songs of "Rossiya", should not tint everything that has happened before. Southgate was encouraged by the optimistic tempo that his team created after the interval, when tired legs and tired minds would have reduced all competition to a race and threatened for a moment to force parity. Chances have been created, opportunities have been missed. Then Eden Hazard, agitated in action and nurtured by the irrepressible Kevin De Bruyne, danced on the pitch and settled the occasion.

Some will argue that England must still thrive against a high-quality opposition in a competitive action, though, that's what it was. Belgium has beaten them twice in this tournament and will be welcomed Sunday by the crowds in Brussels, rejoicing in their best performance in the World Cup. Their celebrations at the end, from field bench, reflected a sense of accomplishment. But, as Southgate had pointed out in the buildup, England never expected to be here. "I'm not sure if anyone in our country thought we were going to play seven games," he said.

They ended up competing well here, despite a lack of openness that left them chasing after the match. The second half of England has demonstrated all the pride and commitment for which Southgate had called. They were the dominant team after the interval, although Belgium kept a considerable threat on the break, as demonstrated at eight minutes from Hazard's smart end in Jordan Pickford's post. Still, the gameheads of the games in play would drift widely, and Toby Alderweireld would hang Eric Dier's trimmed finish off the line. The stubborn refusal to wither, though having delivered a goal with play in its infancy, was still admirable and spoke volumes about the spirit of this collective.

The arrival of Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford at halftime had clearly had an impact, but seeing the group struggling to respond despite tired legs and tired minds was still impressive. There was indeed a lot to admire: the versatility of Fabian Delph and his great challenge to thwart Thomas Meunier; at the delivery of Kieran Trippier who stretched so much even that opposite bottom line experimented sometimes; the zest of substitutes and a much more impressive demonstration of Ruben Loftus-Cheek; and the increased influence of Eric Dier in the midfield. He had been Tottenham Hotspur's midfielder, one of five changes in the semifinal, who traded pbades with Rashford midway through the second half to advance on Thibaut Courtois at an angle . His shot was cut smartly on the goalkeeper, only for Alderweireld to slide and scramble the effort under the crossbar.

The English players mbaded in front of their fans after the final whistle, the serenade in the sky for their efforts, while Belgium ready to go on stage to claim their bronze medals. They had been the bite, their ambitions clearly highlighted by the reality that the wing-backs had combined to force them to advance while the game was still in its rhythm. This award came courtesy of Courtois, acquitted by Nacer Chadli for Romelu Lukaku in order to accept and exploit the shortcomings in a reorganized midfielder in England. His pbad inside Trippier for the galloping Chadli to pick up was still superbly weighed, with the West Bromwich Albion player – who would leave before the break with hamstring problems – crossing the six-yard area. Meunier, ahead of Danny Rose, was ahead of Pickford

Everton's goalkeeper would do well to postpone De Bruyne's deflected effort, and in an exciting way from Meunier's late volley after a counterattack full of rebounds. precise heels and pbades that left England gasping for steam. Twice the Manchester City playmaker split the back line of England with subtle and perfectly weighted pbades only for Lukaku's heavy touch for kibosh the chance. The striker, four-time top scorer in Russia, was replaced at the hour mark and came straight out of the tunnel, and he was even absent in the post-match match on the ground.

died here, with the honor that Harry Kane would surely celebrate, unless Kylian Mbappe or Antoine Griezmann went wild in the final. The captain of England really had only a goal sight here, after the excellent John Stones managed a nice pbad for Raheem Sterling, who perfectly framed the surface of repair. Kane looked as tired as everyone else, and his right leg, standing, gave way when he hit. The effort deviated from the position of Courtois

These miss left England looking at the post-match ceremony since the margin, but they were not on the sidelines of this tournament. And it's been a while since the nation celebrated that. Southgate and its players can look back with pride.