After hosting 4 major tournaments and shining at two World Cups and the Euro, Belgium can summarize that they disappointed and wasted their golden generation.

Where does this generation come from

Many will no longer receive your chance to win the coveted trophy. Vincent Kompany coaches Anderlecht. Musa Dembele and Marouane Fellaini relax in China. For others, Euro 2020 will likely be the last. Thomas Vermaelen, who is currently performing in Japan, celebrated his 35th birthday. Jan Vertonghen and Dries Mertens, both 34, are also considering retirement, while Toby Alderweireld and Axel Witsel, both 32, are also unsure about the future. From others like Thibault Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, we should expect at least one more try in 2022. But Hazard, who barely plays at Real Madrid due to constant injuries, may wonder if he should sacrifice his career in the national team in order to preserve his health. It is also difficult to say about coach Roberto Martinez, who took third place in the World Cup and flew out relatively early to Euro 2020. His contract expires after the end of the World Cup in Qatar, but it is believed that he is already thinking about how to return to club football, which he prefers. It was expected that he would leave after the championship in 2020, but, of course, all plans moved a year. After the end of Euro 2020, people will stop thinking about who won and start washing the bones of the losers. And in Belgium, those who were previously called the golden generation have already begun to be called losers with might and main.

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What will happen next

For more than three years, the Martinez team has been ranked first in the FIFA rankings. Failure? It doesn't seem like it, especially if you remember the victory over Brazil in the World Cup and Portugal in the Euro. Skeptics will say that nothing like that in 2004, Greece, and in 2016 Portugal, won the tournament, while having weaker teams. Maybe it's all about the coach, not the players? In 2016, the Belgian mostbet-pakistan1.com Football Federation held talks with Ralf Rangnick and Louis van Gaal, but in the end opted for Martinez. As it became clear from the England team, the success factors are many: the coach, the talent of the players, the attitude of the media, the high expectations, the harmony in the dressing room England faced the same expectations as Belgium when they played their golden generation. But Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, Owen and Rooney have not reached the same heights as Martinez's men. But Euro 2020 has provided the necessary context for all of Belgium's failures. Let's start with the fact that they lost to the best team in the Italian tournament. Belgium did not fail, did not collapse, and did not disgrace itself. It was a valiant effort by a group of players who, judging by their age, suffered more than anyone else from the postponement of the tournament for a year. The team's starting line-up for the match against Portugal had an average age of 30 years and 148 days, while the overall line-up was the oldest in the tournament. Certainly the schedule hit Belgium hard, which played away games against Russia and Denmark in the group stage before the match in St. Petersburg against Finland. Belgium then traveled to Seville for a grueling win over Portugal before heading to Munich for the quarter-finals. Compare these conditions to, for example, Italy, who played their entire group stage at home in Rome, or England, who could have reached the final with just one match away from Wembley. Injuries also undermined the Belgian campaign. Arguably the country's most gifted player, Hazard never played 90 minutes for Real Madrid last season and only qualified twice in Euro 2020 since the opening minutes before suffering an injury late in the win over Portugal. He was powerless against Italy, while De Bruyne, who first missed the first leg with an injury and then suffered a torn ankle ligament against Portugal, somehow played the entire match in Munich. Witsel somehow played three 90-minute matches in a row despite not playing for his club since January when he suffered a serious Achilles injury. Once again, Belgium's weakness showed up defensively, especially at the edges. The central ones are already veterans, and Martinez decided to put five people in defense. Things went wrong after Castagne's injury forced Meunier and Thorgan Azara to switch positions. On the left flank, Hazard was good against Portugal, but there was a certain awkwardness in his actions in defense, as a result of which the Red Devils conceded a goal. Well, Meunier himself was frankly weak against the formidable Italians.