Belgium achieved its best-ever finish at a World Cup after wrapping up third place following a shut-out victory over England.
Once again, as we’ve seen throughout the tournament, the team’s most creative midfielders pulled the strings and dazzled spectators in what was an otherwise dull match on Saturday.
Here are three winners and three losers from the third-place game at the 2018 World Cup.
WINNERS
De Bruyne-Hazard combo
Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard were two key contributors during Belgium’s run to the semifinals. Just like the previous matches, they were immense yet again.
There is the obvious caveat of the circumstances of the match. It was practically a scrimmage, as neither side wanted to risk injury. Regardless, it was still breathtaking to watch Hazard and De Bruyne connect in the final third.
De Bruyne and Hazard were also the team’s two chief creators, contributing a combined nine created chances, with Hazard also scoring the second goal for Belgium.
Again, facing a wide-open English midfield in a fairly worthless game skews the numbers, but there’s no arguing that it’s entertaining.
Youri Tielemans
Tielemans deserves his own section apart from De Bruyne and Hazard because he was arguably Belgium’s most consistent player.
Tielemans operated as a box-to-box midfielder next to Axel Witsel. That license to roam forward allowed the Monaco man to execute his best attributes: win possession, connect to the attack and create opportunities.
The 21-year-old only misplaced four of his 45 passes, most which were positive and led to some promising attacks. Tielemans also added seven ball recoveries. Only Jan Vertonghen (8) had more.
This upcoming season at Monaco could be a breakthrough campaign for Tielemans. Last year was tough after moving from Anderlecht, as he didn’t have a clear role in the team and hardly played consistent minutes. That should change and it will be a treat to watch.
Roberto Martinez
Martinez will now be known as the coach who guided Belgium to its best-ever finish at a World Cup.
He has his critics, and in some cases, it’s justified. After all, Belgium trailed 2-0 to Japan in the round of 16 and could’ve conceded at least three goals to Brazil in their quarterfinal. The tactical tweaks against France indicated that Martinez was overthinking the matchup, and the decision to take off Marouane Fellaini before launching endless crosses into the box was not wise.
Regardless, the results are there. Martinez’s predecessor, Marc Wilmots, only took this group to the quarterfinals at both the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016. That side was quite stale, slow and unimaginative.
That is not the case with Martinez, and after a hectic spell at Everton, he’s surely rebuilt his reputation.
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LOSERS
England midfield
Not for the first time at this World Cup, England’s midfield was overrun on Saturday.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, a more attack-minded midfielder, started the match and spent most of it up front with Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. Fabian Delph had to help Danny Rose on the left flank, as seen below, so Eric Dier had tons of ground to cover.
Belgium started four players centrally, so it’s no wonder why the Red Devils were so dominant in the middle.
As mentioned earlier, this was a third-place match. But exiting the World Cup with a positive result would’ve salvaged some sort of pride for England.
Harry Kane
On one hand, Kane is likely returning to London with the World Cup Golden Boot.
On the other, he only struck once in open play and did not score after the round of 16.
Now, he does deserve immense credit for scoring the winner versus Tunisia. He also never missed a penalty, which cannot be said by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The mini-drought Kane experienced was more down to the system rather than his own failings. In the final three matches, he dropped deep, almost like an extra midfielder, while Raheem Sterling was the more advanced forward.
In fairness to Gareth Southgate, Sterling has the pace to trouble opposing defences, which occurred in the first half against Croatia. Unfortunately for England, Sterling’s finishing was nonexistent. That is where Kane would’ve been handy.
Viewers and spectators
Third-place matches are usually frantic, disorganized chaos, which makes for a thrilling game.
We did not get that on Saturday.
If you sat through the entire 90 minutes, then kudos. There were spurts of positive play, but it was a low-quality game overall.
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