Match 26 - Belgium vs Morocco 1pm GMT. Live from the Al Thumana Stadium

[Mahzun_Savas]

1 hour ago, DJ Sir Matthew said:

That's a wrong quote because it was Eden Hazard who made the comment about our defense being old. But yeah, the dressing room isn't optimal, I'm sure of that. Too many players over their peak but still thinking they are worth of a starting spot (like E. Hazard) while others who merit that starting spot more are left on the side (how must Trossard feel when E. Hazard got subbed for ... Dries Mertens instead of him??)..

And sure, it isn't the youngest team, by far, but Ivan Perisic is 33 too and he ran Canada rampant today... Modric 37 joined in the fun of running the midfield. Much better than Kevin De Bruyne who just isn't up the level he is when playing for Manchester City. But then again, Kevin did complain many times already about the number of games they have to play, so I guess he 's just fed up with it?

Mertens played better than Trossard

[Citizen Sandman]

Not many bigger frauds than martinez imo

[Mahzun_Savas]

42 minutes ago, Citizen Kane said:

Not many bigger frauds than martinez imo

Exactly, if you can't get Kevin De Bruyne to play well for you you are a failure of a coach.

[XuluBak]

1 minute ago, Mahzun_Savas said:

Exactly, if you can't get Kevin De Bruyne to play well for you you are a failure of a coach.

Martinez has wasted Belgium's "golden generation," but not sure how it's his fault KdB has played like ****. He's gotta own that himself if they go out. 

[Mahzun_Savas]

Just now, XuluBak said:

Martinez has wasted Belgium's "golden generation," but not sure how it's his fault KdB has played like ****. He's gotta own that himself if they go out. 

To a certain extent you are right, his performance is his own responsibility but a poor coach will have a negative impact on players performances as well. A good coach inspires players to play their best.

Morocco are obviously a well coached side and they are playing at their best. Saudi Arabia and Ecuador are two other examples who are better than their individual talent would suggest because they are coached extremely well.

[Gorando]

8 hours ago, Weezer said:

Belgium had one of the dullest golden generations of international football.

We scored the most goals in the previous world cup. We set some scoring records in WorldCup/Euro qualifying. Had a run of 50 consecutive games with at least one goal scored. I thoroughly enjoyed this generation and it was anything but dull to watch us play. It's over now but I will miss this team.

[The Golden boy]

6 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:

Riots in Belgium. At least the supporters put up a fight...

I know there are sizeable Moroccan communities in Belgian cities. Has there been any problems with Belgians targeting Moroccan's in Belgium?

[Gandy]

My housemate is Belgian, he seems to think it’s the Moroccan communities that are causing issues. One of his friends sent a video of a car being flipped. 

[Wolf_pd]

Based on unrest with Dutch Moroccans in Rotterdam and The Hague that might well be true.

[DJ Sir Matthew]

11 hours ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Hopefully this doesn't get misinterpreted, but imo aside from Martinez, the biggest reason Belgium never got the results is lack of team spirit and national pride.

To me they always looked like just another quality club. Always doing their job, never getting anything extra out of them. Their weak spots with players who aren't top level quality are always weak spots, while other teams somehow find those players who're not anywhere close to top club level, but perform great for the NT.

Perišić is a freak of nature, insane levels of fitness, Modrić isn't far off.

Today Croatia looked passive, then Modrić jumps out to press ahead of all 3 players up front, wins a throw in and from that point Croatia doesn't let Canada out of their box for like 3 minutes and eventually scores.

You don't see that from Hazard or KdB. They look like a bunch of mercenaries. And if you don't have overwhelming quality, that's not enough when playing for NT.

I don't think they lacked the team spirit 4 years ago. But that was when the "Golden generation" was at their peak and lost 0-1 vs a defensive cynical France. 

Problem is nothing has changed since then. Not the team (hardly injection of fresh blood), nor the system (with all it's faults like succumbing to easily under pressure). The only thing that changed is the age and motivation of the players. One went up, the other went down. 

It's a Pity the team windled down like this and the main responsible for this is the "coach" Martinez. He kept using the Same players, kept using the Same system, kept using the Same communication style (protecting the players, being positive when it's obvious things aren't etc).. I really hope after this WC a lot of things change...