Belgium is
out of the World Cup after losing to Argentina in the quarter-finals but a lack
of experience as well as a lack of ideas played a part in Rode Duivels elimination from the tournament.
Marc Wilmots’
team had won all four of its World Cup matches it had played at Brazil 2014
until facing the Albiceleste.
A solitary
goal from Gonzalo Higuain was enough to give Argentina the 1-0 win but the
scoreline does not reflect the gap in quality between Argentine coach Alejandro
Sabella and Wilmots.
Both Sabella
and Wilmots had great players to work with but Wilmots had the younger roster
at his disposal. Belgium had the third-youngest team at the World Cup with an
average age of 25.5 years.
It was
Sabella who played his cards right when the two teams played against each other
in Brasilia. Even when Higuain scored after eight minutes, he looked happy to
keep that lead.
Argentina
could have won by more goals if it really wanted to or if luck went its way.
Higuain hit the crossbar in the second half and Lionel Messi was denied a goal
at the end after he was one-on-one with Belgian goalkeeper Thibalt Courtois.
Belgium, on
the other land, was slow and predictable whenever it had possession and despite
trailing throughout the match, the Rode
Duivels lacked urgency. There is no doubt that Belgium has some gifted
individuals but they could not provide the magic needed to get a result for
their team.
This game
had probably exposed the shortcomings of Wilmots as a coach. Throughout the
tournament, he relied on his substitutes to change the game for his team and against
Argentina, it did not work. Argentina was solid at the back and goalkeeper
Sergio Romero was not forced into making any breathtaking saves.
There has
been criticism of Wilmots’ usage of four natural centre-backs in defence and
that there weren’t any natural full-backs used by him. Jan Vertonghen can
advance from defence from his natural role at centre-back but he did not do too
much as a left-back at this World Cup.
This is
where Wilmots should have used the rigid four-man defence to his advantage. The
defenders could have stayed back and his forwards could have stayed in the final
third and press the opposition defence.
Kevin De
Bruyne was a fine performer as an attacking midfielder and Dries Mertens was
more suited to a super-sub role instead of being a starter but the Belgian
attack lacked great flexibility and movement throughout the tournament.
It’s debatable
if anyone else had better wingers to work with than Wilmots. Aside from De
Bruyne and Mertens, Wilmots could count on Kevin Mirallas, Eden Hazard, Adnan
Januzaj and Nacer Chadli to provide trickery or pace down the wings. For a team
with many wingers to work with, the Belgians were too slow and unimaginative.
Wilmots was
the assistant coach of Belgium for three years before getting the head coaching
role in 2012. Since taking over, he has been credited for uniting the
Walloon-speaking players and the Flemish-speaking players in the team.
Wilmots may
be good at being a man-manager but he has shown a lack of tactical nous. If he
is going to coach Belgium at Euro 2016, he needs to make changes to his squad
or tactics.
If he keeps
relying on his star players to constantly create chances out of nothing,
Wilmots could end up being the coach that prevents this team from being great
instead of being the one to properly nurture its talent.
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