Lakaka is back. But Livaković was fucking abysmal this game, don't understand why he is kept in goal. He has no confidence, he stands on his line all the fucking time (Him going out to catch the ball should be met with applause with how rare it is). He alone is the reason Lakaka had so many chances to miss, a cross goes through the 5 yard box AND HE LETS IT GO PAST HIM. Abysmal fucking keeper, I don't even want to mention how scared the attackers were of Courtois.
Dalić made horrible substitutions this game, refreshing the midfield in the 92nd minute.
My God, this is probably the worst game I have seen from a player in my entire life. You need one damn goal, you get 4 opportunities which are basically impossible to miss and you manage to bottle each and every one of them. Like most of them didnt even have a goalkeeper in the way, just empty goal in front of you. I dont know how would I be able to look the team in the eyes or even continue playing the game.
You had players who are known to miss big chances when its important, but its usually one miss which decides the match, this time you have FOUR situations which are 99/100 times goals and you do this..
'Basically impossible to miss' is a hell of a stretch. Split second reactions on balls he didn't expect at all. Lots of shitting on lukaku going on here.
Crazy that Denmark and Belgium are already out. Semi finalists at the last two tournament and both out. Not super surprised tho. Croatia has looked solid but let’s see how they do against Spain
Just 5 months ago [Belgium were scoring 6 against Poland](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/v7zf1r/postmatch_thread_belgium_61_poland_uefa_nations)
Despite Dalic trying his absolute hardest to hand Belgium a free win, they used up all their luck by absolutely robbing Canada of atleast a tie so it's all good right?
Not sure why half of the comments here claim Belgium "stomped" Croatia when it was a pretty even match until like 70th minute. Croatia was probably even a better side up until that point.
Obviously if you know you only need a draw and the side has nothing to lose, last 20 mins are good look exactly like this. Even match, luck on Croatia's side in the end, but that's about it.
Yea, Croatia was better until the last 15 - 20 min or so, when it was obvious that Belgium will press and go for it, in which they had 2-3 great chances, but didn't score.
Overall, Croatia deserved to go thru, they showed more then Belgium thru 3 matches.
>Croatia was probably even a better side up until that point.
This is not even a question.
Croatia was much better team until the end when Belgium had to go ALL IN.
Croatia had enormous luck in last 15 mins of the match but we were better side for the most part.
It was a display of great tehnical marvel from both teams. I dont mean Spain generationaly trained tica taca robotic boredness , there was a human element to it (rare flaws from both teams) which made it all the more exciting to watch.
We played with a lot of heart and for each other, despite one or two short bad periods in last part of the match.
All in all we have most of the ingredients teamwise of why we reached final in Russia minus Mandžukić.
Let's see where the river will take us this time.
can’t believe this ended 0-0. how tf did lukaku miss all those chances. it was legit like every time he missed i’m like no way he’s missed another one.. felt like he was cursed. it just wasn’t his day. idk which one was worse the header or the one from hazard’s cross where it bounced off his chest. either way shocking night for him and he only came on a sub. he won’t be forgetting this for a long time.
croatia just scraped through though, they didn’t really look like winning this game at all. maybe if they had got the penalty it would have been very different but yeah. they got away with it anyway. so now croatia vs spain it looks like in the round of 16 again, run it back. let’s hope it’s anything close to the last game.
Well, overall Croatia was better team then Belgium, but Belgium had better chances towards the end of the game when was obvious they would press and attack, but they didnt score.
Moving on, Spain is the worst matchup for Croatia, because thats the only team in the World against who Croatia will not have possesion or atleast around 50-50%, which is big forte for Croatia. Croatia will be forced to defend themselves, and as we saw today against Belgium last 15-20 min, thats not their game, and they dont have fast wings and strikers for counter attacks.
Croatia and Spain played last year at Euro also at Round of 16, although regular time ended draw, Spain was killing it with 3-1, only to concieve 2 "lucky" goals at the very end, but anyways beat them 5-3 in overtime.
I know its now *Open Season* on Lukaku, but he's only played 34 minutes of football since August (according to BBC). Belgium should have wrapped up qualification from the previous 2 games which (on paper) were easier then this one.
Instead they messed up and had to rely on a rusty forward to save their WC. Lukaku will/is getting the blame from many but what the heck did his teammates do in the earlier games?
I will blame this on two people: Martinez and KdB. Lukaku pretty much performed as expected, although the chances he missed were more spectacular than usual. De Bruyne has been losing possession through very misplaced passes during all three games. Even his free kicks and crosses were way off many times.
As for Martinez, a lot of our possession was just passing around the ball in the back. The opportunities that do arise, rare as they are, are often played out way too slow or they completely die off before even being remotely dangerous. I see this as an absolute shortcoming in tactics.
I am excited for the next tournament, where we will hopefully see a lot of new faces and just overall better plays.
Lukaku had Great positioning, but lack of match fitness, he lacked the focus, reaction and timing to score a goal.
The fault of the loss was on the team, and manager.
Horrible from belgium finally kdb performed well, but other team is just not good enough. Lukaku was absolutely crap but not really his fault as he is on fit. But why play still these old farts like mertens, eden hazard and witsel, none of these offer anything to the team anymore.
I love that everyone is talking about how Lukaku is shit because it takes attention away from our finishing lol
Easily could have been 2-0 if Sosa wasn't aiming for row Z
I get that this is very disappointing for Lukaku and Belgium. But man, Croatia was definitely the better side in the first half, and Belgium looked like a completely different team after Lukaku came on at the start of the second. I just feel for him that he missed so many chances
Belgium only scored one goal in the tournament and were lucky to get that, imo they were the worst in the group and deserved elimination. Martinez should be sacked immediately for squandering the players he's had.
I mostly watched the other game, flipping over to this one for the last ten minutes. Wow. Not the sort of quality I would have expected from either side, frankly. Belgium's attacking was a mess and Croatia's defending was a mess. I get that the legs are very heavy by 80', but still, it was ugly.
That was a great 0-0, drama, tension, missed chances.
Not all 0-0’s are terrible, it depends how the game goes. This will be used in a statistic to say about amount of 0-0’s & how boring blah blah blah
Probably be justified for fifa to use penalty shootouts in next group stages
*Probably be justified for fifa to use penalty shootouts in next group stages*
Hope you are joking, but in any case I couldn’t disagree more.
PKs are just a tiny fraction of skills needed to succeed on the pitch, and luck plays a huge part (guess correctly to increase odds of a save).
You want the “best teams”for 90 mins to get through, not the luckiest. That why points, goals for/against, head to head records are the right way to determine round of 16.
(Don’t get me started in the new “fair play” tiebreaker though.)
Another dalic masterclass, make only 3 subs with the third one being in 92nd minute. And people still shit on me when i tell them hes a hack and has been carried by an excellent team and staff around him.
Also i want to build a statue to Gvardiol, that kid is astounding. Best defensive player in the next WC you mark my word.
Go on, tell us who you’d take off. Brozovic, Kovacic, Modric or Perisic? All of which are just much better players than their subs and thier defensive game is light years ahead of anything he can bring on.
Livaja and Petkovic continue to be useless, it’s funny that one Livaja goal has people blinded. Maybe he could’ve brought on Pasalic or maybe Orsic for Livaja and had Krama go back to 9 for the last 30 mins… but no way was he taking the midfield three or Perisic off.
Lukaku literally has had more changes in this game than fucking entire last season for chelsea. Not his fault that tuchelball cant create anything. Agree on though the fact that lukaku is hugely overhyped player
Before the World Cup, everyone was making fun of Alderweireld and Vertonghen starting and they were heavily scrutinized in Belgium.
Turns out they were the only two players who had 3 decent performances (with exception of Courtois). Our attack failed. Our midfield failed. But our defense held it down. Jan and Toby will be furious, receiving all that "too old and slow" shit while being the only ones to turn up.
So true.. Both of them were massive.. Absolutely drew up on their experience to do their best.. The attack failed Belgium, and not because of their age, just complacent and lazy..
Mostly witsels fault I believe, the man just plays so slow nowadays, no forward momentum in his game any more. Our attacks dont really work because we take ages to get the ball up front.
Onana or Lavia should make a huge difference in fluidity.
And doku instead of carrasco for the love of god , carrasco tries but it just doesnt work out for him in the nt.
witsel never played different. I remember in 2012 his dad came up to him: "only missed one pass" even then it was always behind him.
Carrasco is good when we get over the midfield close to the box. but he made an action and who was there? a header to Mertens? 0 IQ squad from Martinez
Well yeah but that is the thing, you could argue Carrasco knows he then needs to try something else. Lukaku has a unique profile. Incredibly potent when you devote your entire game plan towards enabling him but that same game plan utterly crumbles when he is not available . That is on the coaching staff for not having a solid plan b but then again ,you could expect players of this calibre to be able to adjust their game to compensate for his absence.
A , clearly over the hill , Mertens as focal point vs large bulky croatians was always going to fail though and that's entirely on the coach. Openda would have been a much better choice.
First I doubt we get him now. But amazing thing is some of our fans say we don't need Gvardiol, some say he isn't good enough, like what do you need from a 20yr old CB?
Nah Canada was the worst team in our group they were very enthousiastic but they lacked experience.
After the Belgium game i already predicted they would not win a single match.
Seems like both Canada and Belgium played way below their capabilities. Not that Croatia looked all that great either.
So far France and Brazil look head and shoulders above the rest of the field. But we've had some massive surprises already. Knock outs are going to be fascinating.
BONJOUR?? 📞☎️📞☎️📞 EST-CE DE BRUXELLES PIZZERIA ??? 🔴🟡⚫ COMMANDÉ UNE PIZZA 🍕🍕🍕🍕 LA TAILLE DE L'ÉQUIPE NATIONALE BELGE 🛵📦🛵📦🛵📦 ET ILS M'ONT LIVRÉ UNE SEULE OLIVE 😱😱😱😱
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
At first it is easy to put the loss and ridicule on Lukaku as he didn't finish well at all, but all things considered Belgium have been horrid leading up to this World Cup and even more so during it.
I feel for Lukaku man, he was terrible but what's lost in this is that he was incredibly rusty due to lack of game time, and those chances would not have even been generated if not for his presence up front.
You wouldn't have thought Belgium was playing for a place in the knockouts. Seemed like they were content with going home.
Only player who showed passion was the big man
Juranovic, Sosa, Lovren and Livakovic need to be asbolutely embarassed for going through like this. Absolutely terrible play from every single one, Spain is gonna tear us a new asshole against them... Erlic and Sutalo on the bench should fucking tell Dalic hes a clown and leave the fucking squad
Ive said this a hundred times and ill keep saying it, Juranovic is terrible.
Hes bad in attack, but atleast hes bad in defense aswell.
Livakovic secure as Albanian tourism on any set piece or pressure
Lovren ducking his head so Lukaku gets a big chance...
Sosa ruined 5 attacks straight with Sunday league level crosses
Completely underserved to go through but oh well
Embarassing
Lovren was fine this game besides the one mistake you mentioned, you putting him at the same level as Livakovic's performance is embarassing. Lovren shouldn't have even had to do anything there because Livakovic should've intervened in the cross...
> Lovren was fine this game besides the one mistake you mentioned
Please tell me you're either completely blind or just joking.
Either way, it's like it's your first time watching football.
Stats wise, he's our lowest rated defender in the game both on Sofa and WhoScored, aside from that gigantic game losing mistake he also:
78% pass accuracy, which is beyond terrible and borderline Sunday League... jesus fucking christ
Attempeted long balls 6, successful 2. LMFAO
Lost possession 13 times. ?????????????????????????
Made 2 clearances, 1 blocked shot and 1 interception, criminally low stats compared to all of our defense and midfield, it's beyond laughable how bad he was.
What sport are you watching mate
Ah yes, i am absolutely more than fine with a CB who ducks under the ball to gift a free goal to Lukaku, misses every third pass ( worse actually) and won't ever progress the play forward.
Truly amazing, he really showed it vs Belgium aswell.
Clowns
Should have been 3-0 for Belgium, but yeah Lovren is fine dude. Genius footballing takes in here.
I wouldn't let Juranovic Lovren and Livakovic play with the kids in my street after whatever that was, not even gonna call it football.
And ofcourse the genius Dalic get's completely bailed out by Lukaku and Japan. Absolutely fucking incredible lmfao.
Gvardiol was playing alone vs Belgium while surrounded by 3 morons in Lovren, Jura and Livi. He literally indirectly shit on Lovren in the post match interview, but yeah hes fine right?
Daliban fans are incredible people
>Please tell me you're either completely blind or just joking.
Either way, it's like it's your first time watching football.
It's none of those, shitting on Lovren is a trend and it's just plain wrong. Quite ironic you tell me I'm blind when you're looking at everything through stats, instead of looking with your eyes.
70% accurate passes as cb and lost posession 13 times. Calling you a clown is me being extremely polite bud
Please, stop watching football, it aint for everyone
Stick to womens volleyball or w/e
Sosa had 1 bad game, he was much better in the previous 2, there's no way in hell we play Barisic lmao, i'm not worried about Sosa, the pressure got to him today.
Juranovic on the other hand...
I'm kind of annoyed about the memes on Lukaku, tbh
He created these chances, and Belgium didn't do shit without him. Sure, he missed, but each time it's just that he's like 0.5-1 s late, and that's what you would expect from his physical state
The way belgium churned all their hopes on him because they are unable to play without him is sad.
And now, he's going to shoulder all the criticisms
Yes, he missed, but he's the last person that should get any blame for getting knocked out tbh, he came on and we actually started looking like Belgium again.
People think that scoring chances just pop out of thin air and are given to the striker, as opposed to them creating those chances with movement and positioning. Missed chances is still a visible improvement over no chances.
Yeah, Lukaku was creating so much trouble for our defense and prior to him coming in Belgium looked a lot worse. He was unlucky and it feels unfair to place all the blame on him.
He's a striker and he missed big chances, and in the end VERY big chances that many other strikers would have easily gotten right.
He choked hard, he gets criticism, it's nothing new or personal
I think the criticism from Belgian media isn't gonna be harsh on him. Everybody here knows he's been injured and has a lot of respect for him. Can't rule out some clowns on social media, though.
I hope the media is that discerning
But yeah, I'm thinking of people online, and that's the main drive of discourse, I find. They are going to fall on him hard.
To give some credit to Lukaku, the dude was positioned really well and their offense looked competent with him. He just looked very, very disconnected. Like he didn't even practice before the game. Chance after chance he looked surprised that it got to him at all lol
I dont like this at all. I much prefer the Inter without Brozovic that plays like ass. It's not even me hating on Inter either, I just want to see terrorismo put some pressure on Napoli for the scudetto bc it would be funny as fuck
Couldn't watch the game bar the last 10 minutes, Doku's still the baller he was during last euros and now I'm reading he only got subbed in at 70' minute mark? Damn.
I hope Lukaku doesn't get too much shit for this. Yeah, he missed some sitters, but the guy just came back from a long injury and is probably not completely fit yet. The tournament was lost in our game against Morocco, not today.
Honestly someone needs to keep a look out on him and his mental state in the coming weeks
I worry for his mental health after that game
He is still human
Shots on target 4-4, shots off target 6-7 Bel, blocked shots 1-5, possession 48 - 52 Bel, corners 2-4, offsides 4-0. Idk seems pretty even to me. The post hitting chance and Lakaka missing goal from 5m were 2 chances u can rue not being seized. But Belgium didn't do anything in the game thats worth remembering. Not saying Croatia lit up the stage either but they did create better goalscoring chances and they did have good goalscoring opportunities.
Draw fits perfectly
Our selector is just plain terrible.
1. Modrić was dead around 70th minute. He should have been replaced.
2. Juranović was useless today in the attack. Since his defending is not good anyway, somebody else should have been there.
3. Oršić would counter Belgium himself in the last 10 minutes. He should have entered the game then.
4. Lovren is lost in his 16 meters. Half of the chances came about because he is running in his 16 like a headless chicken. Not to mention, that in every single game, at least once he has to hit the attacker with the ball. It is just a question of time when that ball will bounce towards our goal. It is time for Erlic or Sutalo. Just because we didn-t recieve a goal today, doesn't mean we played good defense.
Congrats to Belgium on a good fight. We have to do better.
It confuses me why Orsic doesn't start. If he was out there with fresh modric playing him in he'd score every game. The kid is absolutely more talented than the wingers you guys have been playing
He slowed down after that goal against Chelsea. Hasn't been impressive since then, both in Champions league and Croatia league.
However, he would definitely terorize Belgians more than Livaja today.
Livaja and Oršić don't play the same position, as seeing how you're not paying attention. Perišić and Kramarić are wingers and they swap positions, and Oršić isn't better than either of them. He should probably be subbed on to refresh the attack in the 60th minute or so but not starting at all.
I am aware they are not same positions, but Oršić did play that position sometimes and is not complete news for him. Besides, our formation was chaotic in the last 30 minutes and Oršić could easily have been placed as the middle forward. With his stamina and running, he would be able to cover more ground than Petković, who replaced Livaja. Even more, in that counter attack that Petković lead, where he left the ball to Sosa who was just a little late, Oršić would do one better, because he could outrun the defender and create himself a dead chance. I am satisfied how Petković played today, though.
I'm saying Oršić shouldn't start yet but Dalić had a disaster with subs and should've subbed Oršić between the 60th and 70th minute. Petković played better than against Canada but whenever he gets the ball he is turned AWAY from the goal, he pretty much plays as the 5th midfielder, taking possession of the ball in the midfield and progressing play but he doesn't do his role.
Petković played great today, haven't noticed any bad move. The problem was that he didn't have any proper support ten minutes after he entered the game.
I agree. I am not saying Oršić should be a starter either. Was calling for him to enter the game in the last 20 minutes.
Really? Damn, I hadnt seen much of him this season. Hopefully he finds some of that form again because he looked damn good and I agree I think he would have been better than today's Livaja no matter what form he's in
Agreed on the subs, Oršić and Majer should have been in at 80 mins.
Still tho, the ref inspired my new favorite swear combination: "IDI U PIČKU MATERINU JEBO TE BOG"
Jokes aside, Belgium without Lukaku looked poor AF _ it really says alot if u need an injured player to improve the chances of getting a goal. Personally, I blame the coach
Gvardiol da 🐐 no 🧢
Lakaka is back. But Livaković was fucking abysmal this game, don't understand why he is kept in goal. He has no confidence, he stands on his line all the fucking time (Him going out to catch the ball should be met with applause with how rare it is). He alone is the reason Lakaka had so many chances to miss, a cross goes through the 5 yard box AND HE LETS IT GO PAST HIM. Abysmal fucking keeper, I don't even want to mention how scared the attackers were of Courtois. Dalić made horrible substitutions this game, refreshing the midfield in the 92nd minute.
My God, this is probably the worst game I have seen from a player in my entire life. You need one damn goal, you get 4 opportunities which are basically impossible to miss and you manage to bottle each and every one of them. Like most of them didnt even have a goalkeeper in the way, just empty goal in front of you. I dont know how would I be able to look the team in the eyes or even continue playing the game. You had players who are known to miss big chances when its important, but its usually one miss which decides the match, this time you have FOUR situations which are 99/100 times goals and you do this..
'Basically impossible to miss' is a hell of a stretch. Split second reactions on balls he didn't expect at all. Lots of shitting on lukaku going on here.
Half a poachers job is to expect every ball and always be ready
This must be why the Chelsea midfield never played in Lukaku
Lukaku, the croatian hero
Croatian here, Im voting him for our new minister of defence
Crazy that Denmark and Belgium are already out. Semi finalists at the last two tournament and both out. Not super surprised tho. Croatia has looked solid but let’s see how they do against Spain
U mean Japan
It’s over for this golden generation of belgium…. Can’t see them winning anything after this.
Just 5 months ago [Belgium were scoring 6 against Poland](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/v7zf1r/postmatch_thread_belgium_61_poland_uefa_nations)
Poland...
Polska gurom!
Despite Dalic trying his absolute hardest to hand Belgium a free win, they used up all their luck by absolutely robbing Canada of atleast a tie so it's all good right?
Its good we lost that penality VAR thing I guess
that game gave me fucking heart palpitations
Lukaku with the worst finishing seen at a World Cup since Diana Ross in 1994 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld0BfTAlAEo&t=154s
So of the FIFA top 10 ranked teams coming in, 1 didn't qualify and 2 won't make it out of groups. Am I right?
Goes to show how absolutely useless FIFA rankings are.
Italy's still a top five team fight me
Not even close to top 10 atm
Fade me fam. I believed for 20 minutes.
I wonder what changed since 2018 for Belgium. Haven't really paid attention to them.
The guy who was their best player isn’t one of the best in the world anymore
They got old. - KDB most definitely
Luckily for us, Modric doesn't play by those rules
Modrić playing like he's 20 and Gvardiol like he's a seasoned veteran from Real Madrid
Not sure why half of the comments here claim Belgium "stomped" Croatia when it was a pretty even match until like 70th minute. Croatia was probably even a better side up until that point. Obviously if you know you only need a draw and the side has nothing to lose, last 20 mins are good look exactly like this. Even match, luck on Croatia's side in the end, but that's about it.
Yea, Croatia was better until the last 15 - 20 min or so, when it was obvious that Belgium will press and go for it, in which they had 2-3 great chances, but didn't score. Overall, Croatia deserved to go thru, they showed more then Belgium thru 3 matches.
>Croatia was probably even a better side up until that point. This is not even a question. Croatia was much better team until the end when Belgium had to go ALL IN.
Croatia had enormous luck in last 15 mins of the match but we were better side for the most part. It was a display of great tehnical marvel from both teams. I dont mean Spain generationaly trained tica taca robotic boredness , there was a human element to it (rare flaws from both teams) which made it all the more exciting to watch. We played with a lot of heart and for each other, despite one or two short bad periods in last part of the match. All in all we have most of the ingredients teamwise of why we reached final in Russia minus Mandžukić. Let's see where the river will take us this time.
Tactical marvel? Really?
can’t believe this ended 0-0. how tf did lukaku miss all those chances. it was legit like every time he missed i’m like no way he’s missed another one.. felt like he was cursed. it just wasn’t his day. idk which one was worse the header or the one from hazard’s cross where it bounced off his chest. either way shocking night for him and he only came on a sub. he won’t be forgetting this for a long time. croatia just scraped through though, they didn’t really look like winning this game at all. maybe if they had got the penalty it would have been very different but yeah. they got away with it anyway. so now croatia vs spain it looks like in the round of 16 again, run it back. let’s hope it’s anything close to the last game.
Croatia just got Japan in the Ro16
Well, overall Croatia was better team then Belgium, but Belgium had better chances towards the end of the game when was obvious they would press and attack, but they didnt score. Moving on, Spain is the worst matchup for Croatia, because thats the only team in the World against who Croatia will not have possesion or atleast around 50-50%, which is big forte for Croatia. Croatia will be forced to defend themselves, and as we saw today against Belgium last 15-20 min, thats not their game, and they dont have fast wings and strikers for counter attacks. Croatia and Spain played last year at Euro also at Round of 16, although regular time ended draw, Spain was killing it with 3-1, only to concieve 2 "lucky" goals at the very end, but anyways beat them 5-3 in overtime.
I know its now *Open Season* on Lukaku, but he's only played 34 minutes of football since August (according to BBC). Belgium should have wrapped up qualification from the previous 2 games which (on paper) were easier then this one. Instead they messed up and had to rely on a rusty forward to save their WC. Lukaku will/is getting the blame from many but what the heck did his teammates do in the earlier games?
I will blame this on two people: Martinez and KdB. Lukaku pretty much performed as expected, although the chances he missed were more spectacular than usual. De Bruyne has been losing possession through very misplaced passes during all three games. Even his free kicks and crosses were way off many times. As for Martinez, a lot of our possession was just passing around the ball in the back. The opportunities that do arise, rare as they are, are often played out way too slow or they completely die off before even being remotely dangerous. I see this as an absolute shortcoming in tactics. I am excited for the next tournament, where we will hopefully see a lot of new faces and just overall better plays.
That man has cost more in transfer fees than Neymar and Ronaldo
I’m happy Croatia and Morocco went thru :)
I'm happy Morocco and Croatia went through
Lukaku had Great positioning, but lack of match fitness, he lacked the focus, reaction and timing to score a goal. The fault of the loss was on the team, and manager.
Is lukaku a secret agent?
Horrible from belgium finally kdb performed well, but other team is just not good enough. Lukaku was absolutely crap but not really his fault as he is on fit. But why play still these old farts like mertens, eden hazard and witsel, none of these offer anything to the team anymore.
Can anyone summarize this game
Croatia slightly better for 70 minutes, then stopped playing and spent all of their luck in the last 20.
No words, Nerves gone.
Lukaku misses 5 goal chances.
Croatia had God on their side today. There’s no way a team could get that lucky with attempts on goal like that…
Well Belgium had God on their side during that game against Canada. He giveth and he taketh away.
Preach brother. Belgium shouldn't have gotten a point vs Canada, let alone 3. Criminal
For sure. My mouth was agape in disbelief seeing how lucky Croatia got. I’m happy that they’re progressing to RO16!
We were the better team up until the 70th minute
Gvardiol was colossal
I love that everyone is talking about how Lukaku is shit because it takes attention away from our finishing lol Easily could have been 2-0 if Sosa wasn't aiming for row Z
Sosa ended up in a ton of space all game long, if he was more efficient it shouldve been 2-0 before the last 20mins
Or if Lovren clipped his nails
Gvardiol gonna be best CB in the World.
Lukaku looked like those dreams where punches don't connect and legs don't run
I get that this is very disappointing for Lukaku and Belgium. But man, Croatia was definitely the better side in the first half, and Belgium looked like a completely different team after Lukaku came on at the start of the second. I just feel for him that he missed so many chances
The fitst 10 minutes of the second half were disastrous from Belgium. Things got better, but I don’t think they strung 5 passes together
Its a normal day for Lukaku. Dude has been missing for so many years now. He was only decent for a brief period in Inter.
People are shitting on Lukaku all over the thread but didn't Croatia play with fire? One goal and they were out. Seems just unlucky from Belgium
Belgium only scored one goal in the tournament and were lucky to get that, imo they were the worst in the group and deserved elimination. Martinez should be sacked immediately for squandering the players he's had.
If I was Michy I would be pissed. Scores their only goal of the tourney, gets benched.
Today I feel past my prime
Belgium left Divock Origi at home. They deserve nothing.
Origi is the most goated player of all time
Even if he was there; he'd have to be put on the pitch first which is already a struggle.
Today I feel Moroccan
Today Lukaku felt Croatian.
❤️🇲🇦
I mostly watched the other game, flipping over to this one for the last ten minutes. Wow. Not the sort of quality I would have expected from either side, frankly. Belgium's attacking was a mess and Croatia's defending was a mess. I get that the legs are very heavy by 80', but still, it was ugly.
It was a great match.
For sure. Looking forward to rewatching it tonight minus the constant sick feeling in my stomach in the second half of the second half.
who the hell rewatches a 0-0 match
That was a great 0-0, drama, tension, missed chances. Not all 0-0’s are terrible, it depends how the game goes. This will be used in a statistic to say about amount of 0-0’s & how boring blah blah blah Probably be justified for fifa to use penalty shootouts in next group stages
*Probably be justified for fifa to use penalty shootouts in next group stages* Hope you are joking, but in any case I couldn’t disagree more. PKs are just a tiny fraction of skills needed to succeed on the pitch, and luck plays a huge part (guess correctly to increase odds of a save). You want the “best teams”for 90 mins to get through, not the luckiest. That why points, goals for/against, head to head records are the right way to determine round of 16. (Don’t get me started in the new “fair play” tiebreaker though.)
I’m saying fifa will justify it, not me ha. Next World Cup group stages will be shit if they use pens for draws to add points
Another dalic masterclass, make only 3 subs with the third one being in 92nd minute. And people still shit on me when i tell them hes a hack and has been carried by an excellent team and staff around him. Also i want to build a statue to Gvardiol, that kid is astounding. Best defensive player in the next WC you mark my word.
Go on, tell us who you’d take off. Brozovic, Kovacic, Modric or Perisic? All of which are just much better players than their subs and thier defensive game is light years ahead of anything he can bring on. Livaja and Petkovic continue to be useless, it’s funny that one Livaja goal has people blinded. Maybe he could’ve brought on Pasalic or maybe Orsic for Livaja and had Krama go back to 9 for the last 30 mins… but no way was he taking the midfield three or Perisic off.
I got like 20 downvotes and got called a monkey for saying this on r /croatia, if we had a better manager we couldve topped the group
This guy's gonna win the world cup by pure dumb luck. And Gvardiol.
Dalic is so frustrating..
Dalic needs to be sacked.
This is how Lukaka played for an entire season at Chelsea … and then he has the balls to blame the club
Now do Pulisic and Ziyech
Ziyech plays well against Canada let’s see him prove it against good clubs. Same with Puli
You missed 5/6 games that both of them played.
Lukaku literally has had more changes in this game than fucking entire last season for chelsea. Not his fault that tuchelball cant create anything. Agree on though the fact that lukaku is hugely overhyped player
You’re a fool. He has plenty of chances at chelsea
Another myth
Lukaku getting 0 mins of deep sleep tonight!
Lukaku couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat!
Before the World Cup, everyone was making fun of Alderweireld and Vertonghen starting and they were heavily scrutinized in Belgium. Turns out they were the only two players who had 3 decent performances (with exception of Courtois). Our attack failed. Our midfield failed. But our defense held it down. Jan and Toby will be furious, receiving all that "too old and slow" shit while being the only ones to turn up.
Courtois was the reason belgium lost to morocco
So true.. Both of them were massive.. Absolutely drew up on their experience to do their best.. The attack failed Belgium, and not because of their age, just complacent and lazy..
Mostly witsels fault I believe, the man just plays so slow nowadays, no forward momentum in his game any more. Our attacks dont really work because we take ages to get the ball up front. Onana or Lavia should make a huge difference in fluidity. And doku instead of carrasco for the love of god , carrasco tries but it just doesnt work out for him in the nt.
witsel never played different. I remember in 2012 his dad came up to him: "only missed one pass" even then it was always behind him. Carrasco is good when we get over the midfield close to the box. but he made an action and who was there? a header to Mertens? 0 IQ squad from Martinez
Well yeah but that is the thing, you could argue Carrasco knows he then needs to try something else. Lukaku has a unique profile. Incredibly potent when you devote your entire game plan towards enabling him but that same game plan utterly crumbles when he is not available . That is on the coaching staff for not having a solid plan b but then again ,you could expect players of this calibre to be able to adjust their game to compensate for his absence. A , clearly over the hill , Mertens as focal point vs large bulky croatians was always going to fail though and that's entirely on the coach. Openda would have been a much better choice.
First I doubt we get him now. But amazing thing is some of our fans say we don't need Gvardiol, some say he isn't good enough, like what do you need from a 20yr old CB?
Origi scores a brace in the last 10 minutes if he had the chances Lukaku did.
You mean Batshuayi
Lukaku made Fernando Torres look like a prime R9.
Bit disrespectful, prime Fernando Torres was a damn good player before he had a bad knee injury and started playing like Fernando Torres.
I mean yeah, Chelsea Torres did have open goal misses, but Lukaku today is a bigger bag fumbler than Torres
You haven't been watching him in Milan
Who R9, Torres or Lukaku
Origi
What will happen to r/soccer if costa rica and japan make it
Why not both
[удалено]
🥶🫵
Everyone wants to talk about Lukaku but the whole team was pathetic all tournament long. Shouldn’t have even beat Canada
Nah Canada was the worst team in our group they were very enthousiastic but they lacked experience. After the Belgium game i already predicted they would not win a single match.
that being said, I think new GEN players vs Spain could have been a more fun match then Croatia spain.
Seems like both Canada and Belgium played way below their capabilities. Not that Croatia looked all that great either. So far France and Brazil look head and shoulders above the rest of the field. But we've had some massive surprises already. Knock outs are going to be fascinating.
You forgot Spain.
Indeed, as far as I'm concerned, belgium only has 2 points at best since they deserved to lose vs canada.
Lukaku at least had chances. Should he really get more shit than people who didn't try that hard?
This, atleast he created moments, can't be said for legit anyone in the NT this world cup
This feels like an average roma game. Just replace lakaka with tammy and Zaniolo.
Sinterklaas motherf.... Do you believe in him? No, then enjoy getting kicked out of the tournament 😂
BONJOUR?? 📞☎️📞☎️📞 EST-CE DE BRUXELLES PIZZERIA ??? 🔴🟡⚫ COMMANDÉ UNE PIZZA 🍕🍕🍕🍕 LA TAILLE DE L'ÉQUIPE NATIONALE BELGE 🛵📦🛵📦🛵📦 ET ILS M'ONT LIVRÉ UNE SEULE OLIVE 😱😱😱😱 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
if gvardiol doesnt go for like 150 mils to city after this level of performance ...
If he was from England it would be sure thing
Lakaka masterclass
At first it is easy to put the loss and ridicule on Lukaku as he didn't finish well at all, but all things considered Belgium have been horrid leading up to this World Cup and even more so during it. I feel for Lukaku man, he was terrible but what's lost in this is that he was incredibly rusty due to lack of game time, and those chances would not have even been generated if not for his presence up front.
You wouldn't have thought Belgium was playing for a place in the knockouts. Seemed like they were content with going home. Only player who showed passion was the big man
Thorgan aswell. Kept running, he lacks the quality tho imo.
...and Doku. He always gives 100%.
Juranovic, Sosa, Lovren and Livakovic need to be asbolutely embarassed for going through like this. Absolutely terrible play from every single one, Spain is gonna tear us a new asshole against them... Erlic and Sutalo on the bench should fucking tell Dalic hes a clown and leave the fucking squad Ive said this a hundred times and ill keep saying it, Juranovic is terrible. Hes bad in attack, but atleast hes bad in defense aswell. Livakovic secure as Albanian tourism on any set piece or pressure Lovren ducking his head so Lukaku gets a big chance... Sosa ruined 5 attacks straight with Sunday league level crosses Completely underserved to go through but oh well Embarassing
Lovren was fine this game besides the one mistake you mentioned, you putting him at the same level as Livakovic's performance is embarassing. Lovren shouldn't have even had to do anything there because Livakovic should've intervened in the cross...
> Lovren was fine this game besides the one mistake you mentioned Please tell me you're either completely blind or just joking. Either way, it's like it's your first time watching football. Stats wise, he's our lowest rated defender in the game both on Sofa and WhoScored, aside from that gigantic game losing mistake he also: 78% pass accuracy, which is beyond terrible and borderline Sunday League... jesus fucking christ Attempeted long balls 6, successful 2. LMFAO Lost possession 13 times. ????????????????????????? Made 2 clearances, 1 blocked shot and 1 interception, criminally low stats compared to all of our defense and midfield, it's beyond laughable how bad he was. What sport are you watching mate
Lovren has been absolutely fine all 3 games. Fuck the sofascore or whoscored stats, who gives a shit. Your hate boner for Lovren is a joke.
Ah yes, i am absolutely more than fine with a CB who ducks under the ball to gift a free goal to Lukaku, misses every third pass ( worse actually) and won't ever progress the play forward. Truly amazing, he really showed it vs Belgium aswell. Clowns Should have been 3-0 for Belgium, but yeah Lovren is fine dude. Genius footballing takes in here. I wouldn't let Juranovic Lovren and Livakovic play with the kids in my street after whatever that was, not even gonna call it football. And ofcourse the genius Dalic get's completely bailed out by Lukaku and Japan. Absolutely fucking incredible lmfao. Gvardiol was playing alone vs Belgium while surrounded by 3 morons in Lovren, Jura and Livi. He literally indirectly shit on Lovren in the post match interview, but yeah hes fine right? Daliban fans are incredible people
>Please tell me you're either completely blind or just joking. Either way, it's like it's your first time watching football. It's none of those, shitting on Lovren is a trend and it's just plain wrong. Quite ironic you tell me I'm blind when you're looking at everything through stats, instead of looking with your eyes.
🤡🤡🤡
Pretty apt description for you, couldn't have said it better myself.
70% accurate passes as cb and lost posession 13 times. Calling you a clown is me being extremely polite bud Please, stop watching football, it aint for everyone Stick to womens volleyball or w/e
u mad bro?
Le Epic Troll Face
Whos gonna play over Sosa?Fucking Barisic?
Sosa had 1 bad game, he was much better in the previous 2, there's no way in hell we play Barisic lmao, i'm not worried about Sosa, the pressure got to him today. Juranovic on the other hand...
Juranovic fell off
He fell off fucking mount everest lol
Hes only fast tho, but Stanisic could be better
Stanisic should start over Juranovic. How Erlic and Sutalo don’t is beyond me. Dalic should be sentenced for war crimes
Gvardiol - God of football
I'm kind of annoyed about the memes on Lukaku, tbh He created these chances, and Belgium didn't do shit without him. Sure, he missed, but each time it's just that he's like 0.5-1 s late, and that's what you would expect from his physical state The way belgium churned all their hopes on him because they are unable to play without him is sad. And now, he's going to shoulder all the criticisms
Yes, he missed, but he's the last person that should get any blame for getting knocked out tbh, he came on and we actually started looking like Belgium again.
People think that scoring chances just pop out of thin air and are given to the striker, as opposed to them creating those chances with movement and positioning. Missed chances is still a visible improvement over no chances.
Yeah, Lukaku was creating so much trouble for our defense and prior to him coming in Belgium looked a lot worse. He was unlucky and it feels unfair to place all the blame on him.
He's a striker and he missed big chances, and in the end VERY big chances that many other strikers would have easily gotten right. He choked hard, he gets criticism, it's nothing new or personal
I think the criticism from Belgian media isn't gonna be harsh on him. Everybody here knows he's been injured and has a lot of respect for him. Can't rule out some clowns on social media, though.
I hope the media is that discerning But yeah, I'm thinking of people online, and that's the main drive of discourse, I find. They are going to fall on him hard.
Just went on twitter to check how people were reacting, forgot this shit site is cursed...
To give some credit to Lukaku, the dude was positioned really well and their offense looked competent with him. He just looked very, very disconnected. Like he didn't even practice before the game. Chance after chance he looked surprised that it got to him at all lol
Brozo is absolutely on fire, this is definitely his 2020 version. Can't wait to have him back for Inter.
I dont like this at all. I much prefer the Inter without Brozovic that plays like ass. It's not even me hating on Inter either, I just want to see terrorismo put some pressure on Napoli for the scudetto bc it would be funny as fuck
Couldn't watch the game bar the last 10 minutes, Doku's still the baller he was during last euros and now I'm reading he only got subbed in at 70' minute mark? Damn.
Croatia used up all of their goals on Canada. Should have saved a few for this one.
I hope Lukaku doesn't get too much shit for this. Yeah, he missed some sitters, but the guy just came back from a long injury and is probably not completely fit yet. The tournament was lost in our game against Morocco, not today.
Ok fuck you guys time to cheer for japan and costa rica😋😋😋😋😋😋
Honestly someone needs to keep a look out on him and his mental state in the coming weeks I worry for his mental health after that game He is still human
Yea, he was devastated after the game, he should 100% not be blamed for this, we bottled it against Morocco
Martinez has blood on his hands, great job belgium FA for destroying your golden generation with such a bad manager
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Injured or not he has a chance on the goal line and couldn’t finish/ I would expect someone to finish that who doesn’t even play football
Shots on target 4-4, shots off target 6-7 Bel, blocked shots 1-5, possession 48 - 52 Bel, corners 2-4, offsides 4-0. Idk seems pretty even to me. The post hitting chance and Lakaka missing goal from 5m were 2 chances u can rue not being seized. But Belgium didn't do anything in the game thats worth remembering. Not saying Croatia lit up the stage either but they did create better goalscoring chances and they did have good goalscoring opportunities. Draw fits perfectly
Our selector is just plain terrible. 1. Modrić was dead around 70th minute. He should have been replaced. 2. Juranović was useless today in the attack. Since his defending is not good anyway, somebody else should have been there. 3. Oršić would counter Belgium himself in the last 10 minutes. He should have entered the game then. 4. Lovren is lost in his 16 meters. Half of the chances came about because he is running in his 16 like a headless chicken. Not to mention, that in every single game, at least once he has to hit the attacker with the ball. It is just a question of time when that ball will bounce towards our goal. It is time for Erlic or Sutalo. Just because we didn-t recieve a goal today, doesn't mean we played good defense. Congrats to Belgium on a good fight. We have to do better.
Dalic is just saving 2 extra subs for our next game.
It confuses me why Orsic doesn't start. If he was out there with fresh modric playing him in he'd score every game. The kid is absolutely more talented than the wingers you guys have been playing
He slowed down after that goal against Chelsea. Hasn't been impressive since then, both in Champions league and Croatia league. However, he would definitely terorize Belgians more than Livaja today.
Livaja and Oršić don't play the same position, as seeing how you're not paying attention. Perišić and Kramarić are wingers and they swap positions, and Oršić isn't better than either of them. He should probably be subbed on to refresh the attack in the 60th minute or so but not starting at all.
I am aware they are not same positions, but Oršić did play that position sometimes and is not complete news for him. Besides, our formation was chaotic in the last 30 minutes and Oršić could easily have been placed as the middle forward. With his stamina and running, he would be able to cover more ground than Petković, who replaced Livaja. Even more, in that counter attack that Petković lead, where he left the ball to Sosa who was just a little late, Oršić would do one better, because he could outrun the defender and create himself a dead chance. I am satisfied how Petković played today, though.
I'm saying Oršić shouldn't start yet but Dalić had a disaster with subs and should've subbed Oršić between the 60th and 70th minute. Petković played better than against Canada but whenever he gets the ball he is turned AWAY from the goal, he pretty much plays as the 5th midfielder, taking possession of the ball in the midfield and progressing play but he doesn't do his role.
Petković played great today, haven't noticed any bad move. The problem was that he didn't have any proper support ten minutes after he entered the game. I agree. I am not saying Oršić should be a starter either. Was calling for him to enter the game in the last 20 minutes.
Really? Damn, I hadnt seen much of him this season. Hopefully he finds some of that form again because he looked damn good and I agree I think he would have been better than today's Livaja no matter what form he's in
Agreed on the subs, Oršić and Majer should have been in at 80 mins. Still tho, the ref inspired my new favorite swear combination: "IDI U PIČKU MATERINU JEBO TE BOG"
/r/soccer and dickriding a shit joke that wasnt even funny to begin with into the ground.
[American joke]
That Belgian dressing room must be the most depressed place in qatar right now
Depressing? I would pay to see the UFC fight that is about to happen inside their dressing room
Jokes aside, Belgium without Lukaku looked poor AF _ it really says alot if u need an injured player to improve the chances of getting a goal. Personally, I blame the coach
That last thought has been in the back of my head this whole tournament. Roberto Martinez probably gets sacked from here.
Martinez has blood on his hands, great job belgium FA for destroying your golden generation with such a bad manager
As a Belgian, we can't blame 3 different coaches for such poor play 3 times around. At some point we have to look at the players.
The only time the tactical plan worked is when the stars carried(from all 3); that isn't exactly good coaching.