Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Vincent Kompany, Romelu Lukaku, Jan Vertonghen,
Toby Alderweireld, Yannick Carrasco, Axel Witsel, Mitchy Batshuayi, Dries Mertens.
At some point, Belgium had all these superstars in their team,
but absolutely nothing came of it. How the hell did that happen?
In that list, we have Ballon d’Or nominees, Champions League winners,
and Champions League finalists. There are 3 Premier League Player of the
Season and 4 Premier League Playmaker awards among those players. We also
have Napoli’s all-time top scorer and Belgium’s all-time top scorer in there.
And get this, this was not a case of the players being overloaded in one position. The stars were
well distributed all around the pitch. They had one of the best goalkeepers in the world in
Courtois, Kompany was one of the best defenders in the world in his prime, De Bruyne was and still is
arguably the best midfielder in the world; in his prime, Eden Hazard was one of the best dribblers
and one of the most creative players in the world, while Lukaku has always been a top striker.
But somehow, these players were unable to win anything for Belgium throughout their
time together. This is the story of how Belgium’s Golden Generation was wasted!
This golden generation started in 2014. Prior to that year,
Belgium were nobody on the international stage. After the 2002 World Cup, they failed to qualify
for any major tournament until 2014 when they finally qualified for the World Cup again.
That year, it was clear that a new exciting era had begun for Belgium. The players were young,
but they were super-talented and were doing exploits for their club. Hazard was just 23,
De Bruyne and Courtois were 22, Lukaku was only 21, and there were 2 exciting
teenagers in the squad; Divock Origi and Adnan Januzaj, both 19 going into that tournament.
Much wasn’t expected of them considering they had been away for years, but they managed to impress.
They topped their group, winning all 3 games and conceding just one goal. They beat the United
States in the round-of-16, before then falling to eventual finalists Argentina in the quarter-final.
For a young squad with 0 experience, that was a good outing. It was just the beginning of
the golden generation. We would surely see more from them in the coming years.
The boys kept balling under Marc Wilmots. They topped their 2016 Euros qualifiers group, and in
the process, got to the summit of the FIFA world rankings for the first time ever in November 2015.
We expected that they’d then go to Euro 2016 and shake the continent,
but for all the expectations, it turned out to be a very disappointing tournament.
They lost their opening game to Italy, but they managed to get out of the group. They
beat Hungary 4-nil in the round-of-16 to restore confidence, only to end up losing
the quarter-final to a much less-talented Wales despite having scored the first goal of the game.
Wales had never reached the semi-finals of any competition in their entire history,
but they somehow managed to do a comeback on Belgium’s head and get to one that year.
That was all shades of disappointing. So,
Wilmots was fired and Roberto Martinez was hired to take over from him in August 2016.
This was a guy who helped Everton to a 5th place finish in the Premier League in 2014,
surely he was the right man to lead Belgium’s golden generation to glory, right?
Wrong!
I mean, the team did improve, but he was never able to lead the Belgians into the promised land.
His first shot at silverware was the 2018 World Cup,
and as always Belgium were stellar in qualifying. They were the first European
nation to qualify for the tournament, of course, apart from hosts Russia.
And we’ll be very honest here, 2018 really looked like their year. They
topped their group, winning all their games and finishing above England.
They had a scare in the round-of-16 against Japan, but they were able to show character and come back
from 2-nil to win the game in the second half. That game turned many into believers, but the
quarter-final match against Brazil was where everybody felt like Belgium were finally ready.
Belgium humbled the masters. Hazard played a superb game that night and
helped the Europeans secure a 2-1 win over the 5-time champions. It
was the first time Belgium had ever beaten Brazil in a competitive game,
and only the second time ever they had made it to the semi-final of the World Cup.
All that stood between them and their first ever World Cup final was a match against
France. They knew it would be tough, but the Red Devils were determined to push through.
But they eventually couldn’t. They were undone by an Umtiti header in
the 51st minute and that was enough to knock Belgium out.
To be fair, that was a clash of two golden generations and one just had
to bow. France’s second golden generation was at its peak in that tournament and they
were just so untouchable. In fact, it was Belgium who gave them their toughest time.
Anyway, Belgium beat England once again in the third-place
playoff and had to settle for a bronze medal.
The 2018 World Cup remains the best outing in the country’s history. Courtois won the
World Cup Golden Glove while Hazard won the Silver Ball.
To be honest, they really did put up a good performance in that tournament. You
would’ve fancied them to beat Croatia in the final had they got there. They were
just unfortunate to have met the strongest team in the tournament in the semi-final.
Anyway, we thought we’d have to wait 2 years for them to get another chance,
but that chance actually came sooner. UEFA introduced the Nations League in September 2018,
and that was another chance for Belgium’s Golden Generation to hold on to some sort of silverware.
But sadly, they weren’t able to crack the top 4 in 2019.
Euro 2020 came around, and as they always do, they started out well,
winning all their group games and topping the table. They went on to
knock out Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the round-of-16, and we all sat up once again.
But we sat back down super quickly when they got
knocked out by eventual winners Italy in the quarter-final.
That same year, they would end up losing to Italy again in the third-place playoff
of the Nations League to finish 4th. So, it came down to the 2022 World Cup. The
golden boys were aging. Kompany had retired, while Courtois, De Bruyne,
Hazard, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Mertens, and Witsel were already in their 30s.
New stars like Youri Tielemans, Timothy Castagne, Amadou Onana, Leandro Trossard,
and Jeremy Doku had now joined the squad, but they had nothing close
to the star power the OGs possessed. All eyes were still on the old guard.
One last dance, perhaps? Were they going to do it? Were they going to
leave with a bang? Were they going to finally reach their full potential?
No, they weren’t.
They couldn’t even make it out of a group that had Canada, Morocco, and Croatia. It
was the first time they crashed out in the group stage of the World Cup since 1998.
And that right there, ladies and gentlemen, marked the end of Belgium’s golden generation.
After the tournament, Martinez resigned, Hazard, Alderweireld, Witsel, and Mignolet
retired. So right now, the core of the golden generation have either retired or are battling
injuries. If they’re neither of those things, then they’re just no longer, you know, THAT guy.
Courtois? De Bruyne? Injured. Lukaku? Vertonghen? Mertens? Carrasco? No longer that guy.
The new gaffer Domenico Tedesco will have
to start a rebuild because the golden generation is no more.
Will we ever see a generation like this for Belgium? Maybe, maybe not. But that
generation of players not winning a single piece of silverware from 2014 to 2022 was such a waste!
And who’s to blame? The coach not being good enough? The players not
giving 100%? Or just hard luck? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
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