Belgium stayed on the road with its best football generation

RUSSIA – France has shown Belgium that if it wants to emulate its football successes, it has work to do

Full of individual talent that shines every week in the English Premier League and in France. Other major league titles competitions in Europe, Belgium hoped that it would soon crown a project started almost twenty years ago to launch 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 semifinals of the World Cup.

Yes, the hangman was France, precisely the national team. he who was inspired by Belgium to revive his football.

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 ago, France had crowned the World Cup for the first time in its history.

The program was therefore trying to emulate at least part of the formula: serious work of children and youth teams, mainly African descendants were trained to enrich the selection performance one day with different skills .

The result was an eminent generation, like Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Vincent Kompany and Thibaut Courtois. In the lead up to the World Cup, the team seemed daunting to everyone, even though it had failed in the quarterfinals four years earlier in Brazil, with less experience [19659002] and another sign of admiration for France, the Belgian coach Roberto Martínez He has integrated Thierry Henry, the best scorer in the history of the Blues, in his team of coaches to train the attackers and especially, to tell them how the French had endured the pressure to bring the cup to their fans. 19659002] Before Tuesday, Belgium's performances seemed to be proof that something new was going to happen. He won 3-0 against Panama, 5-2 against Tunisia and 1-0 against England, to qualify in the first place.
He came after a shock against Japan, who took a two-goal lead, before the Belgians turned around, with a goal at the last minute and with a lightning game.
So these players had also shown that they had character. They ratified it in the quarterfinals, resisting the pressure of Brazilian stars 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 meeting. even if that implied the risk that France would liquidate them in a brutal reaction of the fast teenager Kylian Mbappé.

The goal of Umtiti accelerated the heartbeat of the match, and adrenaline was no longer a good friend of Belgium, which was diluted before the match. French solid behind. First defeat in World Cup, first match without scoring. Result, instead of a final there is a consolation match for third place.

This is not the first time that something like this happens to Belgium. In his previous World Cup semifinal, 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 settled the Belgian hopes at the end of 2014, before the Red Devils surprisingly fell 3-1 against Wales in Euro 2016.