Golden generation. The eyes must roll every time that loaded description is mentioned in Belgium circles but there it is, from Eden Hazard no less, in a Fifa promotional video for the World Cup in which the Real Madrid man insists this incarnation has delivered on account of a third-place finish in Russia four years ago. Roberto Martínez concurs, although that is no great surprise from a master of positive spin who once described an Everton player’s broken leg as “a great opportunity” and every set of results going against Wigan in their fight for Premier League survival as good for his players’ mindset. They were relegated the next day courtesy of a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal.
Revisit Belgium’s performance in 2018, however, and it does seem churlish to dismiss Hazard’s and Martínez’s point entirely. Beating England for a second time in the tournament to win the third-place playoff meant something, as the jubilant reaction in the dugout and on the pitch demonstrated. It meant Belgium’s best placing at a World Cup, eclipsing the achievement of the Enzo Scifo, Jan Ceulemans, Eric Gerets and Jean-Marie Pfaff generation who finished fourth in Mexico in 1986. And it meant a great deal to the thousands of fans who packed the Grand-Place in Brussels, turning the air black, yellow and red with their flares as they gave the squad a triumphant homecoming. There was no sign of disappointment that day with a golden generation being unmasked as bronze.
