St Petersburg: It took the Belgian players some time to realise that they had just passed up their golden generation's golden opportunity to go where their country could never dream of going before—to the World Cup final.
Belgium made only its second semifinal appearance in the competition, and the first after 32 years, but lost to neighbours France in a close game that was decided by a Samuel Umtiti goal.
Almost as if in a state of denial, the players took their frustration out on the France side, first on the field—there were plenty of fouls, squabbles and bookings towards the end—then in their post-match comments.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois expressed his displeasure when he said, “France have played 'anti-football'. I have not yet experienced that a striker plays so far from goal. It is their right to play like that... but it is not nice to see.”
“I would have preferred to have lost in the quarterfinals to Brazil, at least that was a team that wanted to play football.” The shot stopper also criticised the match officials. “Not only the French tactics, but the referee... he didn't call well at all.”
This is not the first time Courtois has attracted controversy for his comments. Earlier in the tournament, he pointed out that England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was too short to save the winner scored by Courtois's teammate Adnan Januzaj in the 1-0 victory over England. Pickford hit back at Courtois saying that he doesn't need to be the biggest to be the best.
The Chelsea goalkeeper wasn't the only one to feel that way about the French defending like they did after scoring. One of Belgium's brighter stars of the day, Eden Hazard, stated that he would “prefer to lose with this Belgium than win with that France.” The message was clear.
Kevin De Bruyne later added fuel to the fire. “Have I been annoyed by France? No, I play at [Manchester] City. I play against teams that play so defensively 90 per cent of the time. That is football,” he said.
Yet, De Bruyne was a bit more gracious in defeat. “What they do, they do well. Both teams had opportunities. That one goal made the difference,” he said.
Jan Vertonghen, who was booked for assaulting Kylian Mbappe in stoppage time, said that he felt Belgium didn't deserve to lose. “We are disappointed as we feel that we are the strongest team at the tournament,” Vertonghen said after the game.
“Yes, we haven't created so many [scoring] chances in front of our opponents' goal today. But it is difficult to face such a team, as the first goal means so much in a game like this.
“Would I like to win like that? I'd like to play in the World Cup final, so I'd say 'yes.' We deserved more due to our performance,” he said.
Belgium will play the third-place match on Saturday against the loser of today's semifinal between England and Croatia, but the bitterness of missing out on the final will remain for a while.