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St. Petersburg – France has shown Belgium that if it wants to emulate its football success, it has work to do.
Full of individual talent shining every week in the English Premier League and in other major competitions in Europe, Belgium hoped that it would soon crown a project started there are near two decades to rub shoulders with the powers of the continent and the planet. On Tuesday, this project remained on the verge of a historic feat, frustrated paradoxically by France, which won 1-0 in the semifinal of the World Cup .
Yes, the executioner was France, precisely the selection in which Belgium was inspired to revive their football.
"It's a big disappointment, because … I think the goal was to win the tournament, so we're very sad because the opportunity to go in final was there " said the Belgian coach Roberto Martínez.
In 2000, when the Belgian team was eliminated in the group stage of the European Championship, the federation looked for a way to restore the quality of its football. Two years earlier, France had won the World Cup for the first time in its history.
The program therefore sought to imitate at least part of the formula: Serious work of child and youth teams, as well as incentives for children of foreign origin – mainly African – to be trained to enrich their abilities one day. the performance of the selection.
The result was an exceptional generation, like Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Vincent Kompany and Thibaut Courtois. In the run up to the World Cup, the team seemed daunting, even though it had been wrecked in the quarterfinals four years earlier in Brazil, with less experience.
And in another blink of admiring eye to France, the Spanish Martinez incorporated in his coaching team Thierry Henry, the leading scorer in the history of Bleus to train the strikers and, above all, to tell you how the French had endured the pressure to lift the cup in front of their audience.
Before Tuesday, Belgium's performances seemed to be proof that something new was going to happen. He beat Panama 3-0, 5-2 in Tunisia and 1-0 in England, to qualify for first place.
Then came a shock against Japan, which took advantage of two goals, before the Belgians gave it back, with a goal at the last minute and a game of lightning.
So these players had also shown that they had character. They ratified in the quarterfinals, resisting the pressure of the stars of Brazil to impose 2-1.
They had won all their matches and scored more goals than any other team in Russia. But under the eyes of King Philippe of Belgium, a goal of French defender Samuel Umtiti at a stop-ball prevented Belgium from qualifying for the first time in the final of the World Cup.
The Belgians took the initiative from the beginning of the match. St. Petersburg, even if it implied the risk that France would wind up in a violent reaction of teenager Kylian Mbappé fast.
"Today was a very tight game, without much time to decide the game," said Martinez. "I felt that once we would have started the second half, we would have a better pace, we would be stronger and we would grow in the game, but that's where we got scored the goal on a corner. "
The goal of Umtiti accelerates the heartbeat of the match, and adrenaline is no longer a good friend of Belgium, who is diluting in front of the mighty French. First defeat in World Cup, first match without scoring. Result, instead of a final there is a consolation match for third place.
"We were able to play in the semi-finals and we tried to reach the final, I think we showed it with our performance, we did not see France dominate the game or with more mental strength than we do. " "I think all our performance was good, but that first goal was vital, if we scored that first goal, France would open a lot more and the game would be open, unfortunately we did not had, and the margin was very short. "
This was the fifth goal awarded by Belgium on contest pieces.
"We defended the ball well, we are organized, but France is very strong in this department," defended Martinez. "This is not a weakness, it is an unfortunate movement."
Nor is it the first time that Belgium has not met its expectations. In his previous semifinal of the World Cup, the team of Vicenzo Scifo, Jean-Marie Pfaffe and company simply could not with the talent of Diego Maradona and succumbed to Argentina in Mexico City.
Albiceleste also put an end to the Belgian hopes in the quarterfinals of 2014, before the Red Devils fall surprisingly 3-1 against Wales at Euro 2016.
We will have to keep trying.
"It's time to go from the front," said the technician. "For now, we have third place."
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