Belgium’s golden generation looks to the future after their semis exit
st. petersburg — Belgium’s golden generation has come up short at a major tournament. Again.
With Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard in fantastic form creating chances for themselves and Romelu Lukaku up front, Vincent Kompany fit again at the heart of the defense and Thibaut Courtois standing tall in goal, these Red Devils racked up more goals than any other team in the World Cup. Through five matches, it looked as if they could finally deliver on their promise.
But with their King Philippe watching from the stands, there was to be no coronation.
“Damn set piece, that’s all I can say,” Kompany said.
“We had more chances, we had more control of the match,” Kompany said. “We weren’t in control two years ago against Argentina.”
Belgium’s beaten players did not want to talk about the end of an era — not with stars like 27-year-old De Bruyne, 26-year-old Courtois and 25-year-old Lukaku in the team and more coming through the youth ranks.
“Generations. Who talks about generations?” De Bruyne said. “We are a small country. We can be very happy and lucky that we can have the team what we have. We don’t have the resources, the infrastructure, the money that other countries have. What we have is a really good team that
performed really well.” Kompany believes that, despite the loss, the class of 2018 has done his nation a favour.
“Generations come and go,” Kompany said. “For Belgian football I think eventually there will still be an opportunity to do well. It allows the country to be more ambitious and believe in its own talent. So maybe for the future we’ve still done something good for Belgian football.”