It can be said that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is not a good time for a giant team like Belgium. Despite being studded with star players on every front, Belgium had to be eliminated first in the group phase along with Germany.
Hazard cs were only able to finish in third place in the F standings after only being able to collect 4 points from 3 matches, which is the same as Croatia’s points which are in second place, only losing on goal difference.
Belgium actually managed to perform well in its first match with a narrow 1-0 win over Canada. But for me, Belgium was surprisingly powerless by Morocco in the second match, which they had to lose 2-0 to Morrocco, last month.
These results left Belgium scattered in third place in Group F standings with 3 points from 2 matches. The third or final match against Croatia, Thursday actually determined the fate of Belgium, where Hazard cs had to win in order to qualify for the round of 16. But unfortunately, once again Belgium was unlucky by being held to a 0-0 draw by Croatia.
If Belgium wins, then they will collect 6 points, and will certainly advance to the round of 16. On the other hand, if Morocco can win against Canada, then Belgium will be in the last 16 as runner-up Group F, whereas if they lose to Canada, then Belgium will be who won the group accompanied by Croatia in second place if the result of the match is only 1-2 goals difference for Belgium to win.
The 0-2 result against Morocco certainly surprised many football fans from all over the world, because the Belgian national team is one of the countries that has a very complete composition of players, from defense, midfield to attackers, including Thibout Courtois, Meunier, Alderweireld, Alex Witsel , Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, and Batshuayi.
As quoted from a news media from France named L’QUIPE that there are several factors that prevent Belgian national team players from playing as loose as they did when defending their club, including,
- Kevin De Bruyne and Courtois haven’t spoken in private for a long time,
- The relationship between Hazard, Batshuayi and Lukaku is a bit strained.
- Kevin De Bruyne, Vertonghen and Hazard were involved in a dispute after Belgium lost to Morocco.
In the end, the issue was heard by the Belgian national team players. Thibaut Courtois as one of the senior players also provided his clarification so that there would be no wider misunderstanding.
“There are no problems within the team. It was just an outside attempt to create internal problems. Of course no one is happy after the defeat,” Courtois said as quoted by Walfoot, Wednesday.
This result clearly disappointed the players and their supporters, especially the players who were quite old, such as Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois. In the end, the captain, Eden Hazard, decided to retire from the Belgian national team after being eliminated from the 2022 World Cup at the age of 31.
“Officially, Eden Hazard has announced his retirement from the Belgian national team,” wrote Fabrizio Romano, Wednesday. Eden Hazard has recorded 126 caps and managed to score 33 goals while defending the Belgian national team since 2014.
This decision certainly surprised many parties, because Eden Hazard’s age is still relatively prime. Until now there has been no official explanation from Eden Hazard regarding the reason for his early retirement. Many suspect that his failure as captain to bring the Belgian national team to shine at the World Cup was the reason for his decision to retire.
Eden Hazard’s career at current club Real Madrid is not too good either, after the incident of a hard tackle by PSG player Munier which caused him to suffer a prolonged ankle injury, which made his performance drop dramatically. Currently at club level, Eden Hazard is trying to restore his performance. Players who are known to be agile and fast and have accurate shots.
ASL
