Belgium in the Euros
Game 1: Belgium - Russia - Check, and now move on.
Even though Belgium defeated Russia 3 - 0, it was not a great game. The Red Devils played mediocre, lacked accuracy, lost the ball too often in the midfield, and didn’t show a lot of creativity. After the opening goal from Lukaku, you expected brilliant counter attacks. They were not there.
Sure, all this may have been sufficient to beat Russia, when it comes to the bigger teams, it won’t cut it.
Luckily we’ll have De Bruyne back. Also Meunier was strong. I’ve been a fan of both for a while.
Game 2: Belgium - Denmark - A wake up call
Due to a conflict at work, I didn’t watch much of the game live. I skipped the disastrous first half entirely. I did see the magical two goals in the second half.
The second half reaffirmed that De Bruyne, Lukaku and Courtois are what makes this team great. I was also carefully encouraged that Eden Hazard and Axel Witsel didn’t slow the game down. They are both amazing players. However in the past their style of playing wasn’t compatible with De Bruyne - Tielemans - Lukaku - Carrasco - Meunier fast and deep style of playing.
Game 3: Belgium - Finland - strong Hradecky in the Finnish goal
Watching the summary of the game, it could have been 4 or more goals from Belgium. The Finnish goalie was strong.
It is great to see how De Bruyne - Lukaku machine is getting more and more steam. Unstoppable.
We need to keep the speed and flow in the game. That’s specific advise for Doku and Eden Hazard.
Sadly no Van Aken as a sub.
Who will be the opponent in the next game. I hope Wales.
Game 4: Belgium - Portugal - meeting the butchers of Lisbon
The highly anticipated game between powerhouses Belgium and Portugal turned into a bloody meat festival. Portugal clearly had sharpened their knives, under the “leadership” of head butcher Pepe. What a disaster! Both Pepe and Palinha deserved dark red cards. Another red card should have gone to the referee who was terrible. Both the Portuguese and Belgium commentary on twitter was unanimous on that. Aren’t they always?
Belgium did not play well. A strike of Thorgan brilliance got us to win this game. The defense however was solid: Vermaelen was my man of the match. Vertongen, Alderweireld and Courtois completed the defense. Also Tielemans was very composed and reliable. Witsel, no my favorite player, was solid as a rock.
The two Belgians who didn’t play well were Eden Hazard and the coach Martinez. Eden Hazard was having fun by himself, dribbling away,and then losing the ball. The connection to the midfield was missing, and therefor Lukaku was on an island. Lukaku surely was missing his buddy De Bruyne.
Martinez failed when he brought in an underperforming and out of form Mertens. Why didn’t he bring in Carrasco instead of Mertens? When Carrasco joined the troops later in the game, the counter attack was much more lethal - although it lacked efficiency.
Next up: Italy. Let’s hope De Bruyne is fit again. And let’s pray Martinez starts with Carrasco instead of Eden Hazard. Let’s be clear, right now: horgan > Eden. And Thorgan + Carrasco = magic.
Game 5: end of the line.
Italy played courageous and great soccer. This was not Italy from a decade ago where they waited patiently for a counter attack. This was brilliant and exciting soccer.
Belgium on the other hand was slow, uninspired and a one trick pony: play it to Lukaku. The midfield was non-existent, neither in the build up, nor in the defense. The yellow card for Tielemans early in the game was dumb and impacted the play.
Playing Jeremy Doku was a surprise. I could see why Martinez selected him. Yet, Doku lacks a great pass or shot. He is fast and dribbles amazingly. And that’s it.
De Bruyne didn’t play well. It seems at the highest level, when you play for all the marbles, he falls short time after time. After the game, I learned he was still injured.
There are a lot of questions why Carrasco or Trossard didn’t play today. Or Vanaken on the midfield. Putting Mertens, who was so clearly out of form, was a mistake.
Ultimately, you have to conclude that the Golden Generation, was just a Golden Wrapper Generation. Great on paper, but rarely the dominant team, the fantastic game against Brazil in Russia not withstanding.
Coach Martinez didn’t really get the swung in the team. Not the way Mancini is getting his team fighting. He has been fighting too many conflicting goals: Eden vs Kevin, Anderlecht v Bruges, Flemish vs Walloon, known non controversial players vs young potential. Today’s game showed that: not-inspired, a lack of brilliance, and too static.
Congratulazioni all'Italia. Vincitore meritato. #BELITA
— waffletchnlgy 🚴 (@waffletchnlgy) July 2, 2021