Group F - Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia

[grecian]

Lukaku was a classic case of a great player who is not match sharp. A fit Lukaku scores a hat trick today.

He's not a great player though is he? in that bracket of very good, but yeah not sharp.

Bit odd that Lineker was still saying the match was a stinker after the second half, first half yes, but the second-half was fun despite being goaless.

 

[Furball]

Martinez as Belgium manager is one of the biggest frauds of all time.

 

[ripper868]

Croatia just have a way of making it work sometimes don't they? Belgium can't blame any but themselves, wonder if they'll do a full refresh for next WC, kind of need to be default.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Martinez as Belgium manager is one of the biggest frauds of all time.

And Everton. He has fluked a cup win and got relegated the same season. All he has done.

 

[Uppercut]

Croatia just have a way of making it work sometimes don't they? Belgium can't blame any but themselves, wonder if they'll do a full refresh for next WC, kind of need to be default.

Lots of this team will retire, but they have *no one* coming through. In two years most of their team will be guys we haven’t even heard of. A few years ago there were 7 or 8 starters with a legitimate claim to be the best player in the world in their position. They completely blew their shot.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Martinez as Belgium manager is one of the biggest frauds of all time.

He can leave the role happy in the knowledge that he led some pretty amazing players to some amazingly middling achievements.

 

[Furball]

Lots of this team will retire, but they have *no one* coming through. In two years most of their team will be guys we haven’t even heard of. A few years ago there were 7 or 8 starters with a legitimate claim to be the best player in the world in their position. They completely blew their shot.

In fairness, although I've criticised him, 4 years ago they narrowly lost in a semi final to France. Win that and they win the World Cup.

The 2016 Euros and losing to Wales was ****ing criminal.

edit: look at the players and look at their ages. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_squads

 

[Pothas]

He wasn't manager in 2016 was he?

That was definitely the worst one.

 

[Furball]

He wasn't manager in 2016 was he?

That was definitely the worst one.

No, he took over after the Euros.

 

[Uppercut]

In fairness, although I've criticised him, 4 years ago they narrowly lost in a semi final to France. Win that and they win the World Cup.

The 2016 Euros and losing to Wales was ****ing criminal.

edit: look at the players and look at their ages. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_squads

Oh yeah I think Wilmots was the worst international manager I’ve ever seen.

I’m not a fan of judging international managers purely on results. They play too few important games. Loew and Deschamps both went all the way and I don’t rate either.

Belgium got close in 2018, but they were a pretty bad team, far less than the sum of their parts. Japan and Brazil absolutely battered them in the knockout games they won. And when you watched them it was blindingly obvious that their main advantage was individual talent and their main disadvantage was terrible coaching.