Belgium suffered a 3-2 defeat against France in the semi-finals of the Nations League on Thursday before losing to Italy 2-1 in the third place play-off match.
Follow Us
Kevin de Bruyne believes that Belgium doesn’t have a huge wealth of talent like France, Italy or Spain, the midfielder opined after losing the UEFA Nations League third place play-off match against Italy on Sunday. The world’s No.1 ranked team suffered a 3-2 defeat against France in the semi-finals of the Nations League on Thursday before losing to Italy 2-1 in the bronze medal match. The current Belgium side is called the Golden Generation because of the number of world class individuals they have at their disposal. The likes of Romelu Lukaku, De Bruyne, Eden and Thorgan Hazard, Thibaut Courtois etc. But they are yet to win a major trophy so far.
Their best performance came at the 2018 FIFA World Cup where they defeated England in the losers final to finish third. However during the Euro 2020, the Red Devils were beaten by eventual champions Italy in the quarter-final stage.
De Bruyne has insisted that Belgium doesn’t have 22 top players at their disposal like Spain, France and Italy. The Manchester City midfielder was introduced as a second half substitute against Italy and provided the assist for their consolation goal. Meanwhile Roberto Martinez’s side played without Lukaku and Eden Hazard on Sunday.
“We did well at times against some top teams and had many new faces who did more than a decent job today,” he told HLN.
“It’s good experience for them to be able to play against opponents of this calibre, but unfortunately we lost twice.
“With all due respect, playing against Estonia is not the same thing and these challenges are necessary for us to grow, both as individuals and as a team.
“With all due respect, we are just Belgium. It’s a new generation, we were missing Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard today, so we have to be realistic about the team we have. Italy, France and Spain have 22 top players to choose from and we do not.”
Belgium have been on top of the world ranking for some time now and were considered favourites to lift major trophies. However their Golden Generation has failed to live up to the expectations.
During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, they were defeated by Argentina at the quarter-final stage and in the 2016 European Championship, Wales got the better of them in the last 8 stage.
Meanwhile many of the Golden Generation players have crossed the age bar of 30 and some of them are close to the 30 mark. Therefore it’s high time they start winning silverware or else they might go down into history books as one of the best teams to never win a major trophy.
Belgium’s next assignment is against Estonia in the World Cup qualifiers on November 14. The Red Devils are placed well on top of Group E with 16 points from 6 games.
