AL RAYYAN, Qatar — At the final whistle, with Belgium eliminated from the World Cup after a 0–0 draw with Croatia, Romelu Lukaku stood by the touchline in front of the Belgium bench, doubled over in anguish. Beside him, with a hand on his shoulder, stood Belgium’s assistant coach, Thierry Henry. But there was no consolation that could remedy this all that quickly. Lukaku eventually stood and, after punching the side of the dugout, sat down. Youri Tielemans soon ran across to sit beside him.
Belgium manager Roberto Martinez went around the pitch hugging his players before confirming what had been expected.
“That was my last game with the national team and this is emotional, as you can imagine,” he said.
Martinez had decided before the World Cup that, whatever happened, he would not sign a new contract when his current deal expired at the end of the tournament. But going out from the World Cup in the manner Belgium did was reason enough to make that so even in the absence of that arrangement.
Lukaku has been a player of vital importance to Belgium over the past decade, the spearhead of the so-called golden generation. But he last started a game at the end of August. He had made two substitute appearances for Inter after his thigh injury and then 10 minutes for Belgium against Morocco. To be thrown on at halftime Thursday and be tasked with turning a game in which Belgium had made almost no impression would have been a mighty ask even if he been fit and in form.
Francisco Seco/AP
“Medically, Romelu couldn’t play the 90 minutes,” Martinez said. “He couldn’t have the physicality that you need. We used him in such a way he could be in the box and he got in great situations.”
But having gotten in those positions, he missed three glorious chances (as well as heading over from six yards after the ball had gone out of play). On the hour mark, after a Yannick Carrasco surge had been blocked, the ball popped out to Lukaku. He was 10 yards out, the ball going across him, the net gaping. He seemed to struggle to get his body into the right position, but got a shot away nevertheless. It hit the inside of the post, cannoned across goal and was cleared.
It was tempting at the time to think that was the moment when the golden generation came to an end. But Lukaku still had two more misses in him, flicking wide of the near post after Thomas Meunier had fed a low cross to him and then, most inexplicably, failing to turn the ball over the line as Thorgan Hazard’s cross came to him at chest height from point-blank range.
Lukaku is an easy scapegoat, but the truth is that the golden generation has been in decline since reaching the semifinals of the World Cup four years ago. The central defensive pairing of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen have a combined 270 caps and a combined age of 68. Eden Hazard is not remotely close to the player he once was. There has been no convincing back-up to Lukaku, that would have given Martinez something other than a desperation play. Even Kevin De Bruyne seems a disillusioned figure these days, claiming publicly that Belgium was “too old” to win the World Cup.
Thanassis Stavrakis/AP
Belgium had held a clear-the-air meeting on Monday to try to restore squad harmony that had, apparently, been disrupted by De Bruyne’s robust comments. After Belgium had taken the lead against Canada in its first game of the tournament, De Bruyne and Alderweireld, who had set up the goal with a long ball, openly engaged in a heated exchange on the pitch. As ever in such circumstances, the squad found a common enemy and blamed the media who, Martinez claimed, wanted Belgium to lose so that they could win “their World Cup.”
There was followed by significant changes to the lineup Thursday, with Leander Dendoncker moved into midfield as the back three became a back four. Hazard, whose fitness had been the source of much criticism, his brother Thorgan and Michy Batshuayi were left out for Leandro Trossard, Yannick Carrasco and Dries Mertens.
But it made little difference. Belgium is not just old; it seems bored, as though all the years of expectation and near misses have worn it down. In this tournament it scored just once. Martinez saw Thursday’s performance as an improvement after the disappointment of the defeat to Morocco. In the sense that it was that defeat that caused, elimination, he was right.
There will be those who blame Martinez, but when he had a squad at full fitness, he took it to third place at the World Cup. Form improved markedly after he replaced Marc Wilmots. This, though, is a squad that has gone desperately stale. There is need for a change, both in terms of the coaching staff and probably players as well. The quarterfinal win over Brazil in Kazan four years ago, when Lukaku and De Bruyne combined brilliantly, feels like a very long time ago.
But that, too, was part of Martinez’s reign and in time it is that peak, rather than the subsequent slump that will be remembered. The Belgian golden generation, though, will remain forever unfulfilled.
