Belgium, the second-best international team on the planet – according to Fifa’s most recent rankings, anyway – have been dumped out of the World Cup at the group stage following a 0-0 draw with Croatia.
The Belgians won their first match against Canada in unconvincing fashion but a defeat to Morocco followed by a draw in their final Group F game torpedoed their chances of reaching the knockout rounds. Romelu Lukaku was only fit enough to play the second half of Belgium’s decisive match but was heavily involved after coming on, missing four glorious chances to score.
Roberto Martinez, who took charge of the national team in 2016 and presided over three major tournaments, has already announced his departure. “That was my last game with the national team and it was emotional as you can imagine,” he said.
Elsewhere Morocco’s 2-1 victory against already eliminated Canada ensured that they topped the group, with Croatia following them into the last 16 in second place.
Here’s how the action unfolded:
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By Daniel Storey, i‘s chief football writer
Croatia 0-0 Belgium
AHMAD BIN ALI STADIUM — As the full-time whistle blew, and those in red and white sank to their knees in triumph, Romelu Lukaku began a slow walk to the touchline. By the time he had made it, a support team had arrived to try and allay the demons. Sometimes hard luck messages are the last thing you need. Then the tears began to flow.
We’ve all had dreams like these. You’re sat in a school exam hall, surrounded by your peers and you look down to see your own naked body. You’re on a date and one by one, your teeth fall out onto the plate in front of you. You’re brought on at half-time in a must-win World Cup group stage match and you manage to miss four chances that come your way as the goal never comes.
For most of us, they stay as dreams, forced to the back of our mind when we wake. For Romelu Lukaku on Thursday, the waking nightmare. The right foot, the left foot, the header and the chest – an imperfect hattrick of opportunities with a fourth thrown in for good measure. Each time he looked a little more broken, a little more haunted by himself.
This is not all on Lukaku, although it may well feel like it for a few days. Belgium were thoroughly awful for almost all of this group stage: outplayed by Canada, dismantled by Morocco and unable to build up any pressure against Croatia when they needed to win. The lack of dynamism was startling, given the emergency nature of the situation. Their greatest trick is to fail to push players forward and somehow still be vulnerable to the counter-attack.
This was that last big chance for Belgium
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 1, 2022
Romelu Lukaku just couldn't guide it home
Reaction on @BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer, listen on @BBCSounds and via the @BBCSport app#BBCWorldCup #BBCFootball
But then that is how these eras often end, not with a bang but a whimper from a team that is tired of each other’s company and simply tired. Golden generations, if this Belgium team were ever that, are laced with negative connotations. The most likely tournament to win is always the one that you have just let slip from your grasp. It never gets easier.
And this is no vintage. The defenders are too slow, as Kevin de Bruyne intimated. The defensive midfielders are too slow to react. Eden Hazard is in decline, Lukaku was never fully fit. De Bruyne, evidently the best individual player, looked thoroughly dispirited at everything that lay in front, behind and around him. He will likely be relieved to return to the relative sanctity of Manchester City.
Roberto Martinez was the leader, but he too has failed in his mission. Four years ago, and 18 months ago, this was a tournament-winning team that required a manager with the successful experience or the tactical nous to propel them on and provoke trust in his methods. If Martinez ever had that, he has let it slip far too easily. We do not know how good this generation could have been; we do know as Martinez never allowed us to find out.
Martinez is probably fortunate. He has already announced his departure and will eventually be given another chance to restore his reputation elsewhere. His players are not so lucky. This is the end. They will look back on club exploits fondly when the time comes; the journey of this national team is an asterisk next to that success.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage, rage against it. Or at least have the decency to look like you want to create chances when you are able and to take one of them when you have to. Belgium never raged. They barely reached out to grasp at a legacy. Football has passed them by. Just another golden generation buried in the dust.
Morocco dreaming big after finishing above Croatia and Belgium
By Pete Hall
Canada 1-2 Morocco (Aguerd og 40′ | Ziyech 4′, En-Nesyri 23′)
AL THUMAMA STADIUM — It appeared Cameroon football federation president Samuel Eto’o had completely lost his mind when he suggested last month that the World Cup was set for an all-African final for the first time.
This was especially true when he also claimed England needed to beware of hosts Qatar in the last 16. That part of his rather audacious prediction fell apart after only six days, but his bold vision of seeing teams from the African continent in this month’s Doha final is not completely impossible.
One team, against the odds, have looked as impressive as anyone so far. When Morocco were pitched against Belgium and 2018 finalists Croatia in their group, very few gave the north Africans hope of reaching the knockout stages for only the second time in their history.
But, having put a bewildered Belgium to the sword in their second group match, after holding Croatia, Morocco battled past Canada to become the first African side since Nigeria at France ’98 to progress as group winners.
Despite Belgium’s golden generation looking very much past their best as they sensationally crashed out, Morocco are worthy of their surprise position.
Roared on by almost the entire Al Thumama Stadium against Canada, roused by a stirring national anthem, Morocco flew out of the traps, with Hakim Ziyech, arguably one of the players of the tournament so far, capitalising on an awful error from Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan before lofting the ball over the stranded stopper to break the deadlock after just four minutes.
Can't stop watching the Achraf Hakimi assist
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 1, 2022#BBCWorldCup #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/v9gk9YhdtZ
The “olés” were already out before Youssef En-Nesyri converted a sublime pass from Paris Saint-Germain full-back Achraf Hakimi to become the first Moroccan in history to score at two World Cups, doubling his side’s lead.
What is often overlooked with this Morocco side is just how well organised at the back they are. An unfortunate own goal from West Ham’s Nayef Aguerd gave Canada a lifeline, but it turned out to be the only time the Atlas Lions were breached all tournament, ending a run of six games without conceding. In knockout football, such solidity can take to you very, very far.
Canada did come close to a leveller in the second half, but Atiba Hutchinson’s header came down off the crossbar, bounced on the line and away.
Otherwise, it was not as if goalkeeper Bono was particularly busy. Ahead of him, the red north African wall stood firm.
“I never dreamed of doing something for my country,” a tearful Hakimi said. “Doing something big for your country is bigger than your club. [For] A long time Morocco didn’t get through the groups. Today I have done it – that’s why I cried.
“Why can’t we go far? Why not dream of lifting it?”
With goals up front, the ingenuity of Ziyech revelling in the freedom he has for his country, and such a rigid backline, Eto’o’s bold claim is not looking quite so foolish now. It would still take something extraordinary for the premonition to come true, but in a World Cup of plentiful shocks, what’s one or two more?
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