Belgium's world cup

Bronze. This is the best world cup soccer result ever for Belgium. It is pretty amazing for a country of ten or eleven million people to reach this far in the tournament. Except for Italy, most big soccer countries were present: Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, France. Belgium played a great tournament and was loved by many spectators: the game against Japan was a thriller. Winning against Brazil was pure class. And beating English twice was icing on the cake.

This is Belgium's golden generation with Romelu Lukaku up front, Courtois in the goal, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Dries Mertens, Vincent Kompany, Thomas Meunier, Marouane Fellaini, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, and several more.

And yet, it could have been so much more. Roberto Martinez, Belgium's coach, opted to build the team around Eden Hazard. Hazard is a talented player with great dribble technique and scoring ability. He is most effective from nearly standstill situations when he gets around his opponent with a quick dribble move or a fast acceleration. On the other hand, players like Lukaku, Mertens, Meunier and De Bruyne are most effective when the game is open and with a relentless pace. This mirrors how big club teams play: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United.

And there lies the issue with Belgium's golden generation. By building the team around Hazard, rather than De Bruyne, you clip the team from its most lethal capabilities. You saw flashes of this fast play in the goal of Meunier against England. You saw also this at full display in one of the most incredible counter attack in the final minutes of the game against Japan.

Belgium goalie Thibaut Courtois caught the ball and rolled it to Kevin De Bruyne. He dribbled it about 10 yards past midfield and passed to Thomas Meunier, who had plenty of space on the right side. Meunier crossed the ball, and Romelu Lukaku pretended to play the ball, which allowed Nacer Chadli to come from behind and tap the ball into the back of the net on what turned out to be the final kick of the game.

We dare you to find a better counterattack!

Chadli finishes off a beautiful team play to give Belgium the win late in stoppage time. 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/lbUxZDzG0E

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 2, 2018

Will a team build around De Bruyne have done better? We will never know. By winning against Brazil with great tactics and some luck (the first goal was an own goal by Brazil), Martinez has been proven right.

The frustrating loss against France leaves us knowing it could have been more. It should have been Belgium in the final against Croatia. Imagine the fireworks between those two teams.

The country is looking ahead at the European Championships in 2020 and dreams of winning it. To have a chance, the Red Devils need to make some important changes in the team structure: retire Witsel and Kompany. Bring in young and quick defenders. Put De Bruyne in a similar role as he plays in Manchester City. There is plenty of work ahead for the team: the European Championships are often tougher than the World Cup.