MARTINEZ FINDS HIS REDEMPTION
Belgium’s coach brings down Brazil and now his team eye the top prize
THE first question Roberto Martinez fielded on the eve of a breathtaking win over Brazil was about whether he might be interested in managing Spain.
The 44-year-old did not exactly say ‘no’, though it was only when the dust settled yesterday that the notion seemed credible.
Martinez has not lost a competitive match with the Belgian national team in his two years at the helm. The last team of his to be defeated was the Everton side who lost 3-0 to Sunderland in May 2016.
Yet within British shores, reputational redemption has not been forthcoming. The suspicion has always been that Martinez cannot put together a competent defence, or mount a credible explanation when things go wrong. His relentless optimism always grated heavily on Merseyside, where they are always quick to scent propaganda.
Friday night’s victory ought to change all that. The 2-1 win — Belgium’s first victory over Brazil since a 1963 friendly in Brussels — was built on comfortably the most impressive tactical strategy from a manager at any game in this tournament.
Belgium’s shift from their favoured possession game to a counter-attacking one was one thing. The redeployment of players something else.
The familiar 3-4-3 morphed into a system which changed according to the phases of the game on Friday night and without the ball looked more like a 4-3-3, which crowded out Neymar.
Jan Vertonghen moved aside to let Nacer Chadli come inside and track the runs of Paulinho. Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku were instructed to stay high up the pitch when Belgium were out of possession, offering counter-attacking options. Kevin De Bruyne was redeployed from deep-lying midfield to a false No 9, with space run into with Lukaku operating on the right.
On Martinez’s part, it was tournament tactical management in action and made Brazil coach Tite’s own second-half adjustments — sending on Roberto Firmino at half-time to make a 4-2-4 — look extremely basic. Tite could reflect on missed chances and a denied penalty, though there was a process of cause-and-effect in play.
It was by turning the screw so tight that Belgium made it so hard for Brazil to find the cold-blooded quality at the death
‘We trained a couple of days on it,’ said Toby Alderweireld about the new system. ‘We knew what we had to do. That’s one thing. The second thing is to actually do it, to stick with it.
‘This was the first game we came a little bit back and tried to play on the counter. Of course we want to have the ball. In the other games we have been 100-per-cent favourites, but that can suit us as well. It is our strength we have different plans.’
Martinez was self-effacing, though he did not attempt to hide his contribution.
‘I think when you play Brazil you have to get a tactical advantage,’ he said. ‘It would be too easy to hope that you bring your game and win the football game. We had to be brave tactically. It was a big game. Hazard and Lukaku give you a period where the opposition don’t know how to cope. It was a difficult tactical plan and the way they believed it was incredible.’
There is already a sense that France — Belgium’s opponents in Tuesday’s St Petersburg semi-final — are feeling a big-country confidence.
‘We’ve already eliminated the best player in the world (Lionel Messi) against Argentina,’ defender Lucas Hernandez said yesterday. ‘He didn’t touch the ball. We do not say it but we all know that we can be (world champions). We’re all great players. We are ambitious. When we play a World Cup, we want to win it, that’s normal.’ France are buoyed by the fact that Thomas Meunier, who dropped into the four-man defence to help deal with Brazil’s Neymar/Philippe Coutinho axis, will not play, suspended for the 71st-minute yellow card he took for a foul on Neymar.
But the win against Brazil feels like Belgium crossing a psychological threshold, in a way that France defeating Argentina did not. Lukaku’s contribution will give him the same confidence as Kylian Mbappe.
‘The win is huge for us,’ said Vincent Kompany. ‘There are enough players in this team who really want to win. In terms of what this country has achieved at a football level is unique. It is not the end. We’ve got enough players in this team who want to go to the end.’
The same applies to Martinez. As he left his post-match press conference, the room burst into round of spontaneous applause and he accepted it, slightly awkwardly. It was a long way from that 3-0 at the Stadium of Light. Martinez seems to have learned something from seven often bruising years in the English Premier League. It feels like he has found redemption.