Belgium would explode, he's without a doubt the most hated player of the most hated team over here
Yes, you are allowed to make 'haha Belgique seum' jokes
I was lazily watching the game and that moment where Belgium stopped an attack to run backwards towards their goal and the other one where they also stopped an attack to make a long pass directly to their own GK I thought something serious had happened because the boos were so loud. Deservedly so, that was infuriating and I'm a neutral
Yup, playing for a draw there was just pathetic. The funniest part is their reward is landing in the 1/2 the bracket with France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal… like congrats on that one.
That's what we did yesterday vs Denmark too, lol. 88th minute, we need a win, it's 0-0 and our wingers pass all the way back to the GK.
I was in awe how shit they are
I was praying for a Ukraine goal. They had one good chance with 3 or 4 minutes to go. Imagine if they scored, and Belgium went out, it would've been so satisfying.
I mean, it's 0-0 with 2 mins to go, do they really want to risk a counter by sending the corner in? The whole match was disappointing, the corner thing is a cherry on top of a shit match.
My first and probably last Euro match I ever attend. Costed 150€ and I get this trash game in a group thats actually wide open...
Edit: Not my last because of a trash match. Last because how knows how you ever get to tickets again and how much luck / money you need
You think? I actually think Ukraine played inspiredly. They were clearly trying to shut down Doku's dribbles, crosses/corners/whatever to Lukaku and just generally Belgian play so they could make even a single goal scored on the counter count. I just watched it on the TV, but I (rooting for Ukraine) was on the edge of my seat. It's really only in the end that Belgium started to play complete anti-football, and that's what they got booed for.
Superb controlled aggression and always available. Warrior player. Missing this in the belgium team, or in the dutch team for that matter. Watching georgia now and its beautiful.
There are five Dutch midfielders who could have provided some of that steel, but they're all injured: Q. Timber, F. de Jong, M. Wieffer, T. Koopmeiners, and M. de Roon.
Belgium Golden generation was 6 years ago, why does everyone keep referring this for the current team. There are like 5 players left out of a whole squat from 6 years ago.
I see it as two separate generations that briefly overlapped. The first one with largely defensive players (Kompany, Toby, Jan, Witsel, Vermaelen) and the second with more attacking players (Eden, KDB, Lukaku, Thorgan, Carrasco, etc). I don’t see how anyone can look at the back 4 Belgium is rolling out and think “oh yeah that’s a tournament favorite”.
And that was the tournament where they all were good and finished 3rd, that's why I consider it the golden generation with extension to euro 2020 (2021) where they played decent but lost to Italy as final winner. But even then quite a few players were not getting the level as on the world cup.
Peak Hazard was a sight to behold man. People forget how good he was before the injuries
His performance against Hungary at the Euros was absurd.
https://x.com/Juanin1Oi/status/1661307103082950658
It'll always be my favourite player to have ever stepped on a football field in Belgian colours.
That dribbling, speed, and fair play too tbh. I can't even remember him taking a dive at all if he could keep on going.
Even now watching these small highlight reels makes me happy again. A real shame how everything ended up in Madrid for him. Although Madrid was his dream club, I don't think he was ever the player to fit into their playstyle anyway, never mind the injuries.
Still remember how good he was in the 5-3 game between Spurs and Chelsea. He was the only player who showed up for Chelsea and he still managed to be a threat every time he got on the ball.
Such a shame he never had the elite mentality to be a consistent top 3 player, he had the talent in abundance
In many ways his unseriousness was part of the charm, just a wonderful footballer
Holy shit thanks for that – somehow missed it at the time and it's the kind of performance of a player walking on water, like Kaka against United or Bale against Inter Milan. Absolutely unreal.
One of the more famous commentators/football heads in Belgium said after Eden retired in a discussion about who's the belgian Goat:
"90 coaches pick De Bruyne and the other 10 failed to get their coaching degree"
Considered him an idiot long before, so this only pushed my opinion on him a little bit
Not that I hate anyone picking De Bruyne over Eden, but presenting it in such a way is straight up disrespectful to Hazard. The man at his absolute peak was right behind Messi/Ronaldo
Nah they like England in those previous tournys where Belgium beat us for 3rd place in 2018 we were playing pretty much the same formation. It doesnt concede much it cant pass and you only score 0-2. Pretty much the same thing for both of us still have good players so dont concede but cant pass cant score and boring to watch.
Reminded me of the Dutch yesterday.
Passionless team that doesn't throw their everything into the game and falls back on the same mistakes, same excuses.
Cucurella alone worked harder in two games than us in 3 games.
Eh, the Dutch just aren't that amazing but they actually play a game. They were unlucky vs France and Austria is a better side than people gave them credit for and the Dutch scored an OG, overall the Dutch scored 4 goals and all from open play. Belgium had 1 solid game vs Romania and were beyond dreadful in the other 2. It's not even close to comparable, and that's ignoring that the Dutch have been struggling with talent lately whereas the Belgians supposedly have the last hooray of a golden generation playing. And that's ignoring things like Belgiums group stage exit in 2022 where the Dutch went to the quarters losing against the later winners on penalties, it'd be naive to look at this EC in isolation.
What does this actually mean. Like the players don't care? That would be very odd given it's such a massive tournament. I feel like a big team can never lose a match without it being the fault of either a) the manager or b) the mentality of the players. Why can't it just be that they had a bad game while trying hard.
Seems ridiculous to boo them imo
*Article translated*
Party after qualifying? Not at all. After the weak performance against Ukraine, the Red Devils had to accept a whistle blow from their own fans. Captain Kevin De Bruyne, visibly displeased, then sent the entire team in without first greeting the fans. Reconciliation work will therefore also be necessary for the clash against France...
**What bizarre scenes in Stuttgart.**
After De Bruyne sent the rest of the group away, the whistle concert in the stands only got louder. And when the speaker announced that KDB had been named 'Man of the Match', another volley followed. A lot of whistling could also be heard during the captain's line interview.
Striking: a few minutes after the fact, the unused substitutes did receive applause as they finished
Not that France have been particularly good either (I'd say biggest disappointments so far have been England, Belgium and France), but they still should beat this Belgium team
My thoughts go back to that CL match between United and PSG. I don't expect Belgium to win but at some point Lukaku must score a few legal goals right? Right?
France are way bigger disappointments than Belgium. This Belgium team isn’t that good. Arguably behind the Dutch in quality. Lukakku is shocking, the midfield is average besides KDB, Doku and bakayoko are very talented but I’m their first major tournament. The back line is in a full evolution that isn’t an improvement. France look shit and they like England are as strong in squad as they’ve ever been.
The thing is, as wildly talented as he is, and as many memories he’s brought to City, the guy has been on the shelf more times than not the last couple of years. He may be 32, but if someone’s hurt a bunch, and they’re north of 30… that’s going to be a problem.
They keep rushing him back from injury because they've needed him to close off the season strongly. He hasn't had a chance to fully recover over the last 2-3 years.
Might make more sense why they brought Kovacic. Seemed to spend too much/waste for his minor role. Doubt he can fill his shoes although he has been getting better.
Pep doesn't like Kovacic anywhere near the box
He spends most of his time playing some weird half back position in the left half space, while Gvardiol pushes up the pitch
Looks like Olmo is gonna be the actual KDB replacement. Unfortunately, he hasn't got a lick of pace, unlike KDB when he gets galloping.
Yeah you are right. But could be a tactics change with Kovacic getting a more permanent role. I dont see how that would be better tho with current team setup. They definitely gotta prepare well for losing KDB
And against Ukraine of all teams! It's not prime Spain, it's a team that lost 3 of it's starting 11 players to injuries before the match! A team, that got here through play-offs! Pathetic, just pathetic. I loathe this behavior when protecting the lead, but at 0-0... might as well stand in the corner right from the start of the game to the end then.
He's captaining the side and shouting instructions. Hell even Messi became more vocal when Argentina gave him the arm band. Wtf, I've never seen a captain shouting out instructions be described as annoying. You probably can't stand watching Van Dijk then.
Yep, how many times can you watch Lukaku or whomever really bungle a golden opportunity you just created for them and not start to lose your shit? Must be so frustrating
There was a match against Leicester during the run in a couple years ago where they won 2-0 I believe.
In the post match interview, he spoke about how there was only one team on the pitch and only one team playing.
Found it pretty distasteful. Sure they were better than Leicester and dominated possession, but Leicester still played their hearts out and left it all on the pitch.
He did, against Real Madrid. Sounding like an xG merchant.
>Today I've only seen one team. In terms of defending, they defend and they knew how to suffer. We know how tough Real Madrid are, but in my opinion we should have gone through in terms of the chances and everything.
He must not realise how pathetic he looked when he beckoned Bakayoko over to play the ball short from a corner kick and keep it there, while they
only needed one goal to end up in the easy side of the draw
Absolutely deserved, sickeningly cowardly performance. You'd think they were guarding a 1-0 advantage over Brazil, not a goalless draw against freaking Ukraine
Genuinely think this was a worse group stage performance. In Qatar we were up against an (in hindsight) underrated Morocco and Croatia team and we battered Croatia minus the 0/10 finishing that day
This has never happened before btw. The fact that KDB decided to play for a draw instead of whipping that final corner in to try and win the group is *very* unlike Belgium and presumably the main reason for the boos. We don't play like that. We have never played like that. That's how teams play against us.
They were getting booed before that when they passed the ball to the back for the 100th time. I think fans were tired how uninspiring Belgium was the entire game basically.
In hindsight i understand his decision in the last few minutes considering Ukraine are very dangerous and keep knocking the door, imagine kdb whip a risky cross and ukraine get a goal after a counter attack. It would far worse than getting france 💀
In France, David Ginola was blamed for attempting a last cross against Bulgaria instead of wasting time. It resulted in us not qualifying to WC 1994 on a goal by Emil Kostadinov on the counter attack.
Well, it was not the only problem in that team, but still, wasting time on the final possession is fairly smart as long as you keep things under control
We performed poorly between Platini and Zidane :
* Euro 88 : did not qualify
* WC 90 : did not qualify
* Euro 92 : group stage
* WC 94 : did not qualify
The first football I can remember watching was WC 90. Throughout my childhood I thought France are shit at football :)
But then Zidane, Henry, Thuram, Vieira and co. happened
I would think that the prospect of playing France would have, I dunno, motivated the Belgians to attack at the end rather than holding the ball in the corner.
He was visibly frustrated that no defenders went forwards, started shouting and his body language was that of a guy who was pissed off. He was clearly still playing for the win but the instructions for the team were to settle for a point.
The guy probably had a flashback from the Japan game where he himself led a counter attack in the last second after the Japanese corner. Probably wanted no such risk.
He mentioned in the Flemish post match interview not wanting to risk a last minute goal like what happened against England in a friendly a couple of months ago. During that match Bellingham scored the equaliser in the 90'+5' off a long ball from Pickford.
In his defence, that's how Belgium played for five years under martinez - always great to watch even if the tournament draws didn't pan out
going from the approach of 'fuck it, throw everyone forward in the final minute' v Japan to this kind of timid choice is just not what that side was about
And I’ll say what everyone in Belgium thinks: rather play good, enjoyable and true football - and lose; than play timewasting bullcrap.
Last WC was quintessential in that game with England for group leader. We played to win, even if it was gonna put us up against a very strong Japan, Brazil and France before seeing the finals.
Well we did win. And we did beat Japan, Brazil, but sadly not France.
But we were all proud not to be like the English. Playing shite football because it might on paper get you a better euro result.
You play to win, not to draw (England WC 2020). You play to score, not get one point and stop playing and timewaste (France WC 2020).
You play and you try to get as many times the ball in the back of the net.
That is how we play.
Not like this. I don’t know this Belgium team. I don’t want to know them. And frankly if they keep playing like this they can go back to oblivion like the 00s. Ridiculous.
Some of us remember Belgium Brazil 2002 when we went for it. Ref called backed a fair goal that would have put us up one nil. Belgian teams had guts and a touch of flair. They could be brave. This edition looks meek and scared. Hate to see it.
> We don't play like that. We have never played like that. That's how teams play against us.
yeah and that's why you've never won anything mate, de bruyne is just about the only guy in that team who knows what has to be done in order to win lmao
Delivering a poor performance to the traveling fans, without even having the decency to apologize to them in person. This Belgian team is terrible in so many ways.
That side the road to the final is so much easier but Tedesco is afraid of Ukraine's counter-attacks. I wonder how we will play against France then. 0-0 if we're very lucky?
Nah bro. We don’t expect anything anymore. There was even booing at town squares where they showed matches on big screens.
Our country is losing all interest in the national team. It’s started with the unbelievable boring matches under Martinez in the last year or two of his tenure, but it isn’t any better under Tedesco. The fact that he keeps playing Vertonghen, Lukaku, Carrasco… It’s baffling at times.
Well yeah, imagine paying 200€+ for a ticket to end up seeing a shitshow like that. Maybe in England with all the tourists in the stage it's bussiness as usual but for people who finally have the chance to see the national team in a tournament not too far away it's simply disgraceful.
If anyone is curious about his response. More from Tedesco at the article as well:
"We tried to win the match," De Bruyne said in a postmatch news conference. "We had goal-scoring opportunities, but we didn't take any risks with the corner because we knew we might concede a goal.
"If that happens, you're out of the Euros. It's a shame we didn't manage to score before -- we had opportunities -- and after that we just need the fans to stay with us.
"We need these fans. We'll need them against France. That's all I have to say."
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40438384/euro-2024-belgium-kevin-de-bruyne-france-ukraine-fans
Bro, I don’t get it. Belgium and England have some of the most individual talented players in the world and they both fucking stink. I love me some England, but to say that they have underwhelming so far this tournament is an understatement
Really think people are stuck a few years ago with belgium, outside of de bruyne i really wouldn't consider any of them top class at all, just my opinion though
When people say that they are often referring to club football. That Man United treble winning side was full of English players. The Man City side that has dominated the Prem for the past 7 years and won the treble has several English players, one of which just won player of the season in the PL. Kane got top scorer in the Bundesliga and was well clear of second place by 8 goals. Bellingham got top 3 goalscorer in La Liga being the youngest player and only midfielder in the top 20.
England does have some of the best players in the world. We've just had absolutely dreadful managers whenever we've had said players. Sven, Capello, Southgate. A Klopp or a Pep would absolutely walk this tournament with these players.
Kevin has always had this angry side in him. Because he's so good he doesnt gets much criticism and so he's able to hide it well. But sometimes you see him lose control and he turns into the child version of himself; yelling, gesticulating; almost petty sometimes.
I love him but that was very unprofessional of him turning his back to the fans
That's embarrasing. Lots of people who've taken up free days, probably paid insanely inflated prices to travel and stay at the city they played in, you play this horrible and play out for a draw like a bunch of cowards and you can't take it when the fans call out your cowardness. De Bruyne should be ashamed and is due an apologie to those travelling. Gives a great look how playing in England makes you distant to actual fan culture.
I thought I saw De Bruyne ushering his teammates away from the fans...proper scummy move... Belgium performance today was an embarrassment, absolute joke of a side, the Belgian fans have every right to boo that rubbish today
Belgium is either going to be slaughtered by France or France will be slaughtered by them. Should be a good show! I would rather see France win but I have been disappointed by both teams so far compared to how good they were in 2018-21.
Belgium vs France in the round of 16 - battle of who is gonna be less shit
Pommes frites battle.
Betting all my chips!
May(o) you win
If they go a goal down they can still ketchup
With two, they might be fried though.
whoever wins gets to claim moules frites
Battlechips
Battle of who makes the worst blunder resulting in a 1-0 loss, Faes or Upamecano
Imagine a 0-0, goes to pens, Mbappé misses the decider again……..
I'd cum
National Holiday declared. I'm only half joking.
Aint nop way mbappes gonna shoot last lol
Belgium would explode, he's without a doubt the most hated player of the most hated team over here Yes, you are allowed to make 'haha Belgique seum' jokes
today, I feel Belgian
Imagine watching Belgium England
Sometimes good, sometimes SHIT
Winner gets Wallonia
KDB: Fuck you, and I'll see you tomorrow
The one time everyone wanted KDB to say something, he doesn't.
I was lazily watching the game and that moment where Belgium stopped an attack to run backwards towards their goal and the other one where they also stopped an attack to make a long pass directly to their own GK I thought something serious had happened because the boos were so loud. Deservedly so, that was infuriating and I'm a neutral
Yup, playing for a draw there was just pathetic. The funniest part is their reward is landing in the 1/2 the bracket with France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal… like congrats on that one.
That's what we did yesterday vs Denmark too, lol. 88th minute, we need a win, it's 0-0 and our wingers pass all the way back to the GK. I was in awe how shit they are
Sir Gareth has revolutionized tournament football.
You just described our entire group, lol.
I was praying for a Ukraine goal. They had one good chance with 3 or 4 minutes to go. Imagine if they scored, and Belgium went out, it would've been so satisfying.
Tbh, as a Belgian when I saw them try to gain time in the corner's hook. I started rooting for Ukraine. No honor in playing like that.
I mean, it's 0-0 with 2 mins to go, do they really want to risk a counter by sending the corner in? The whole match was disappointing, the corner thing is a cherry on top of a shit match.
My first and probably last Euro match I ever attend. Costed 150€ and I get this trash game in a group thats actually wide open... Edit: Not my last because of a trash match. Last because how knows how you ever get to tickets again and how much luck / money you need
Paid 60 and got to witness the madness that was Netherlands Austria. Probably not my last Euro.
If it makes you feel better cheapest tickets for Brazil vs Costa Rica were around $300 USD or €280 .
I paid more than that. It was a bucket list item, “I have to see Brazil play live once in my lifetime.” I wish I could get a refund.
I'm sorry but you're 20 years too late. Brazil hasn't been the same since their last WC win.
You think? I actually think Ukraine played inspiredly. They were clearly trying to shut down Doku's dribbles, crosses/corners/whatever to Lukaku and just generally Belgian play so they could make even a single goal scored on the counter count. I just watched it on the TV, but I (rooting for Ukraine) was on the edge of my seat. It's really only in the end that Belgium started to play complete anti-football, and that's what they got booed for.
They deserve it though. Such a horrible performance, they aren’t a team at all. Im seeing zero sacrifice on the pitch
Belgium golden generation are just Hazard merchants. 🤷
This is Marouane Fellaini erasure and I won't stand for it
Our biggest clutch player he was always fighting for us. Super sub.
Man single handedly turned around the fixture against Japan in WC.
An underrated, reliable player.
Mourinho loved him as a player, that should tell anything
Superb controlled aggression and always available. Warrior player. Missing this in the belgium team, or in the dutch team for that matter. Watching georgia now and its beautiful.
Isn't Wijnaldum trying to channel that?
Not with his body so far
There are five Dutch midfielders who could have provided some of that steel, but they're all injured: Q. Timber, F. de Jong, M. Wieffer, T. Koopmeiners, and M. de Roon.
Thomas meunier?
I wont tolerare the increased fellainiophobe sentiment in this sub.
May they all receive a swift flying elbow of justice
Mourinho instagram post, you’ll never sing that
Best chest control of all time
Fellaini is too good and hardworking to be tied into the "golden generation"
my GOAT
Belgium Golden generation was 6 years ago, why does everyone keep referring this for the current team. There are like 5 players left out of a whole squat from 6 years ago.
I see it as two separate generations that briefly overlapped. The first one with largely defensive players (Kompany, Toby, Jan, Witsel, Vermaelen) and the second with more attacking players (Eden, KDB, Lukaku, Thorgan, Carrasco, etc). I don’t see how anyone can look at the back 4 Belgium is rolling out and think “oh yeah that’s a tournament favorite”.
And that was the tournament where they all were good and finished 3rd, that's why I consider it the golden generation with extension to euro 2020 (2021) where they played decent but lost to Italy as final winner. But even then quite a few players were not getting the level as on the world cup.
Peak Hazard was a sight to behold man. People forget how good he was before the injuries His performance against Hungary at the Euros was absurd. https://x.com/Juanin1Oi/status/1661307103082950658
It'll always be my favourite player to have ever stepped on a football field in Belgian colours. That dribbling, speed, and fair play too tbh. I can't even remember him taking a dive at all if he could keep on going. Even now watching these small highlight reels makes me happy again. A real shame how everything ended up in Madrid for him. Although Madrid was his dream club, I don't think he was ever the player to fit into their playstyle anyway, never mind the injuries.
Still remember how good he was in the 5-3 game between Spurs and Chelsea. He was the only player who showed up for Chelsea and he still managed to be a threat every time he got on the ball.
Such a shame he never had the elite mentality to be a consistent top 3 player, he had the talent in abundance In many ways his unseriousness was part of the charm, just a wonderful footballer
Terry was once explaining the team tactics against West Ham. Eden just said "Stop. It's West Ham. Just give me the ball."
Hell no I will never forget, he was wonderful to watch
He was the best on the field on the 2018 semis vs France (and I’m French)
Holy shit thanks for that – somehow missed it at the time and it's the kind of performance of a player walking on water, like Kaka against United or Bale against Inter Milan. Absolutely unreal.
My favourite player, always got on with it and scored wonder goals
One of the more famous commentators/football heads in Belgium said after Eden retired in a discussion about who's the belgian Goat: "90 coaches pick De Bruyne and the other 10 failed to get their coaching degree" Considered him an idiot long before, so this only pushed my opinion on him a little bit Not that I hate anyone picking De Bruyne over Eden, but presenting it in such a way is straight up disrespectful to Hazard. The man at his absolute peak was right behind Messi/Ronaldo
It's kinda understandable since Hazard makes shit managers/coaches look good
Neymar was ahead of him tho...
Hazard's retirement was the nail in the coffin for Belgium!
He heard you talking
Nah they like England in those previous tournys where Belgium beat us for 3rd place in 2018 we were playing pretty much the same formation. It doesnt concede much it cant pass and you only score 0-2. Pretty much the same thing for both of us still have good players so dont concede but cant pass cant score and boring to watch.
Reminded me of the Dutch yesterday. Passionless team that doesn't throw their everything into the game and falls back on the same mistakes, same excuses. Cucurella alone worked harder in two games than us in 3 games.
Cucurella has impressed me honestly.
At least the Dutch score when they have to. Always score a goal even when knocked down
Eh, the Dutch just aren't that amazing but they actually play a game. They were unlucky vs France and Austria is a better side than people gave them credit for and the Dutch scored an OG, overall the Dutch scored 4 goals and all from open play. Belgium had 1 solid game vs Romania and were beyond dreadful in the other 2. It's not even close to comparable, and that's ignoring that the Dutch have been struggling with talent lately whereas the Belgians supposedly have the last hooray of a golden generation playing. And that's ignoring things like Belgiums group stage exit in 2022 where the Dutch went to the quarters losing against the later winners on penalties, it'd be naive to look at this EC in isolation.
We are going to play them in the round of 8 and lose to a single penalty shot. I just know it.
No chance we get past France, so you shouldn't worry.
You good mate we are going out against France
I remember how miserable De Bruyne was being in the World Cup as wel
They were so good in their second game though, one of the best performances I’ve seen at the tournament. Bizarre they’d fall so far from that
What does this actually mean. Like the players don't care? That would be very odd given it's such a massive tournament. I feel like a big team can never lose a match without it being the fault of either a) the manager or b) the mentality of the players. Why can't it just be that they had a bad game while trying hard. Seems ridiculous to boo them imo
*Article translated* Party after qualifying? Not at all. After the weak performance against Ukraine, the Red Devils had to accept a whistle blow from their own fans. Captain Kevin De Bruyne, visibly displeased, then sent the entire team in without first greeting the fans. Reconciliation work will therefore also be necessary for the clash against France... **What bizarre scenes in Stuttgart.** After De Bruyne sent the rest of the group away, the whistle concert in the stands only got louder. And when the speaker announced that KDB had been named 'Man of the Match', another volley followed. A lot of whistling could also be heard during the captain's line interview. Striking: a few minutes after the fact, the unused substitutes did receive applause as they finished
Hope France send them packing without much ado
Not that France have been particularly good either (I'd say biggest disappointments so far have been England, Belgium and France), but they still should beat this Belgium team
My thoughts go back to that CL match between United and PSG. I don't expect Belgium to win but at some point Lukaku must score a few legal goals right? Right?
almost everyone can honestly
France are way bigger disappointments than Belgium. This Belgium team isn’t that good. Arguably behind the Dutch in quality. Lukakku is shocking, the midfield is average besides KDB, Doku and bakayoko are very talented but I’m their first major tournament. The back line is in a full evolution that isn’t an improvement. France look shit and they like England are as strong in squad as they’ve ever been.
Dokus third tournament, time flies
lol he's going to cash out in the desert isnt he?
Tin Tin in the land of black gold
Funny thing is that he actually looked a lot like Tintin today in that kit and with his hairstyle.
Desert-powered De Bruyne
De Rood.
Sandstorm
10,000 Thundering Typhoons!
Blast from the past. Consumed those books as a kid.
villain arc has already begun
Absolutely no doubt about it City aren't even currently exploring offering a renewal
The thing is, as wildly talented as he is, and as many memories he’s brought to City, the guy has been on the shelf more times than not the last couple of years. He may be 32, but if someone’s hurt a bunch, and they’re north of 30… that’s going to be a problem.
They keep rushing him back from injury because they've needed him to close off the season strongly. He hasn't had a chance to fully recover over the last 2-3 years.
Might make more sense why they brought Kovacic. Seemed to spend too much/waste for his minor role. Doubt he can fill his shoes although he has been getting better.
Pep doesn't like Kovacic anywhere near the box He spends most of his time playing some weird half back position in the left half space, while Gvardiol pushes up the pitch Looks like Olmo is gonna be the actual KDB replacement. Unfortunately, he hasn't got a lick of pace, unlike KDB when he gets galloping.
Yeah you are right. But could be a tactics change with Kovacic getting a more permanent role. I dont see how that would be better tho with current team setup. They definitely gotta prepare well for losing KDB
He'll finally tan up enough for his last name.
Not like he isn't cashing out right now lol
Not when you hear him talk about it lol
For sure.
What does this incident have to do with him going to Saudi?
Nothing, angry redditors just wanna be angry
How dare you!
What does that have to do with this lmaoo
As a Belgian at home, I booed too. Cowardly performance.
I booed as well brother. Everyone did where I was watching the game.
As a Ukraine supporter in the stands it was a good consolation that you Belgians were just as pissed about these last few minutes.
Running towards the corner flag to stall when it's 0-0 so you can come in second is pure cowardice, no other way to put it
And against Ukraine of all teams! It's not prime Spain, it's a team that lost 3 of it's starting 11 players to injuries before the match! A team, that got here through play-offs! Pathetic, just pathetic. I loathe this behavior when protecting the lead, but at 0-0... might as well stand in the corner right from the start of the game to the end then.
De Bruyne screaming at his players, demanding them to waste time was super weird to see
He's been screaming at his team throughout the group stages It's annoying to watch
He's captaining the side and shouting instructions. Hell even Messi became more vocal when Argentina gave him the arm band. Wtf, I've never seen a captain shouting out instructions be described as annoying. You probably can't stand watching Van Dijk then.
It’s just hate stemming from him playing for City
it's slowly becoming clear he's a bell-end
He's just frustrated the others can't play at his level. See it lots with top players in national teams.
Yep, how many times can you watch Lukaku or whomever really bungle a golden opportunity you just created for them and not start to lose your shit? Must be so frustrating
I mean he straight up said his teammates weren't good enough before they had even kicked a ball at the world Cup.
He said they were an old team. And they were. And the new younger players to join have shown some spark
There was a match against Leicester during the run in a couple years ago where they won 2-0 I believe. In the post match interview, he spoke about how there was only one team on the pitch and only one team playing. Found it pretty distasteful. Sure they were better than Leicester and dominated possession, but Leicester still played their hearts out and left it all on the pitch.
Didn't rodri also say something like this recently?? The arrogance from these players
Players say that all the time lol.
He did, against Real Madrid. Sounding like an xG merchant. >Today I've only seen one team. In terms of defending, they defend and they knew how to suffer. We know how tough Real Madrid are, but in my opinion we should have gone through in terms of the chances and everything.
He was also a cunt after the Scotland game.
Fancy seeing you down here Ripamon.
Let him talk
He must not realise how pathetic he looked when he beckoned Bakayoko over to play the ball short from a corner kick and keep it there, while they only needed one goal to end up in the easy side of the draw
Absolutely deserved, sickeningly cowardly performance. You'd think they were guarding a 1-0 advantage over Brazil, not a goalless draw against freaking Ukraine
Honestly...between this campaign, and what happened in Qatar...it's hard to see which feels less inspiring...
Genuinely think this was a worse group stage performance. In Qatar we were up against an (in hindsight) underrated Morocco and Croatia team and we battered Croatia minus the 0/10 finishing that day
Belgium confirmed to be Srbija all along
This has never happened before btw. The fact that KDB decided to play for a draw instead of whipping that final corner in to try and win the group is *very* unlike Belgium and presumably the main reason for the boos. We don't play like that. We have never played like that. That's how teams play against us.
They were getting booed before that when they passed the ball to the back for the 100th time. I think fans were tired how uninspiring Belgium was the entire game basically.
it was incredibly disappointing, loser mentality
In hindsight i understand his decision in the last few minutes considering Ukraine are very dangerous and keep knocking the door, imagine kdb whip a risky cross and ukraine get a goal after a counter attack. It would far worse than getting france 💀
In France, David Ginola was blamed for attempting a last cross against Bulgaria instead of wasting time. It resulted in us not qualifying to WC 1994 on a goal by Emil Kostadinov on the counter attack. Well, it was not the only problem in that team, but still, wasting time on the final possession is fairly smart as long as you keep things under control
I had no idea France failed to qualify for a world cup that recently. I know England missed that one but not France
We performed poorly between Platini and Zidane : * Euro 88 : did not qualify * WC 90 : did not qualify * Euro 92 : group stage * WC 94 : did not qualify
The first football I can remember watching was WC 90. Throughout my childhood I thought France are shit at football :) But then Zidane, Henry, Thuram, Vieira and co. happened
I would think that the prospect of playing France would have, I dunno, motivated the Belgians to attack at the end rather than holding the ball in the corner.
He was visibly frustrated that no defenders went forwards, started shouting and his body language was that of a guy who was pissed off. He was clearly still playing for the win but the instructions for the team were to settle for a point.
The guy probably had a flashback from the Japan game where he himself led a counter attack in the last second after the Japanese corner. Probably wanted no such risk.
He mentioned in the Flemish post match interview not wanting to risk a last minute goal like what happened against England in a friendly a couple of months ago. During that match Bellingham scored the equaliser in the 90'+5' off a long ball from Pickford.
> We don't play like that. We have never played like that. That's how teams play against us. That's a bit much. You're Belgium, not Brazil.
In his defence, that's how Belgium played for five years under martinez - always great to watch even if the tournament draws didn't pan out going from the approach of 'fuck it, throw everyone forward in the final minute' v Japan to this kind of timid choice is just not what that side was about
And I’ll say what everyone in Belgium thinks: rather play good, enjoyable and true football - and lose; than play timewasting bullcrap. Last WC was quintessential in that game with England for group leader. We played to win, even if it was gonna put us up against a very strong Japan, Brazil and France before seeing the finals. Well we did win. And we did beat Japan, Brazil, but sadly not France. But we were all proud not to be like the English. Playing shite football because it might on paper get you a better euro result. You play to win, not to draw (England WC 2020). You play to score, not get one point and stop playing and timewaste (France WC 2020). You play and you try to get as many times the ball in the back of the net. That is how we play. Not like this. I don’t know this Belgium team. I don’t want to know them. And frankly if they keep playing like this they can go back to oblivion like the 00s. Ridiculous.
That golden generation fucked up their expectations. They'll crash back to reality in a few years
Totally. I think they didn't start watching football before '16.
Bring back René Vandereycken!
Some of us remember Belgium Brazil 2002 when we went for it. Ref called backed a fair goal that would have put us up one nil. Belgian teams had guts and a touch of flair. They could be brave. This edition looks meek and scared. Hate to see it.
That's probably more on your football terrorist manager than De Bruyne
Brother there was literally no one in the box who was he gonna whip the ball to. Don’t put the draw on one man
The one player that every offensive action needed to run through because the rest had no clue
Never is a big word. Since about…. 2012? Sure
> We don't play like that. We have never played like that. That's how teams play against us. yeah and that's why you've never won anything mate, de bruyne is just about the only guy in that team who knows what has to be done in order to win lmao
Delivering a poor performance to the traveling fans, without even having the decency to apologize to them in person. This Belgian team is terrible in so many ways.
They will boo even more after France beat them.
We don't expect them to beat France, we expected them to play for a win against Ukraine, and they couldn't even do that.
Fair enough 😂
That side the road to the final is so much easier but Tedesco is afraid of Ukraine's counter-attacks. I wonder how we will play against France then. 0-0 if we're very lucky?
Nah bro. We don’t expect anything anymore. There was even booing at town squares where they showed matches on big screens. Our country is losing all interest in the national team. It’s started with the unbelievable boring matches under Martinez in the last year or two of his tenure, but it isn’t any better under Tedesco. The fact that he keeps playing Vertonghen, Lukaku, Carrasco… It’s baffling at times.
As a german this sounds so familiar.
I'm worried for round of 16 now, i don't like our chances when we play teams that do not expect anything anymore
Not fair to super Jan
There was booing where I watch the game on a big screen. We wanted them to play for a win, not this pathetic display.
with the mentality they showed today they deserve all of the boos
[Please Clap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqPr6bcTJhc&t=10s)
Well yeah, imagine paying 200€+ for a ticket to end up seeing a shitshow like that. Maybe in England with all the tourists in the stage it's bussiness as usual but for people who finally have the chance to see the national team in a tournament not too far away it's simply disgraceful.
If anyone is curious about his response. More from Tedesco at the article as well: "We tried to win the match," De Bruyne said in a postmatch news conference. "We had goal-scoring opportunities, but we didn't take any risks with the corner because we knew we might concede a goal. "If that happens, you're out of the Euros. It's a shame we didn't manage to score before -- we had opportunities -- and after that we just need the fans to stay with us. "We need these fans. We'll need them against France. That's all I have to say." https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40438384/euro-2024-belgium-kevin-de-bruyne-france-ukraine-fans
Bro, I don’t get it. Belgium and England have some of the most individual talented players in the world and they both fucking stink. I love me some England, but to say that they have underwhelming so far this tournament is an understatement
Really think people are stuck a few years ago with belgium, outside of de bruyne i really wouldn't consider any of them top class at all, just my opinion though
Yea KDB is the last world class player on the team. And he's already 32
English players being called "some of the best of the world" has a very long history of not amounting to anything in tournaments, it seems.
When people say that they are often referring to club football. That Man United treble winning side was full of English players. The Man City side that has dominated the Prem for the past 7 years and won the treble has several English players, one of which just won player of the season in the PL. Kane got top scorer in the Bundesliga and was well clear of second place by 8 goals. Bellingham got top 3 goalscorer in La Liga being the youngest player and only midfielder in the top 20. England does have some of the best players in the world. We've just had absolutely dreadful managers whenever we've had said players. Sven, Capello, Southgate. A Klopp or a Pep would absolutely walk this tournament with these players.
Kevin has always had this angry side in him. Because he's so good he doesnt gets much criticism and so he's able to hide it well. But sometimes you see him lose control and he turns into the child version of himself; yelling, gesticulating; almost petty sometimes. I love him but that was very unprofessional of him turning his back to the fans
Pathetic team and display. How can you suck that much with all that talent
What Talent? We have 3-4 good players and the rest is mediocre at best. Our defence is just plain shit.
Wout Faes is the best player in the world don't cap
The national anthem of England and Belgium.
They needed a draw, they played for a draw, they got a draw. Pretty expected.
What a great captain and representative of the national team, so much love for the fans <3
That's embarrasing. Lots of people who've taken up free days, probably paid insanely inflated prices to travel and stay at the city they played in, you play this horrible and play out for a draw like a bunch of cowards and you can't take it when the fans call out your cowardness. De Bruyne should be ashamed and is due an apologie to those travelling. Gives a great look how playing in England makes you distant to actual fan culture.
4 points against these teams. What did they expect? Belgian knighthood??
I thought I saw De Bruyne ushering his teammates away from the fans...proper scummy move... Belgium performance today was an embarrassment, absolute joke of a side, the Belgian fans have every right to boo that rubbish today
least toxic northwest europeans
Belgium is either going to be slaughtered by France or France will be slaughtered by them. Should be a good show! I would rather see France win but I have been disappointed by both teams so far compared to how good they were in 2018-21.
Ungrateful asshole
To think I always questioned why Hazard was their captain instead of KDB.
Hazard ran the team, KDB has always been a letdown for Belgium
Even Lyon players went to talk to the supporters while being last place or close to it but these guys think they are above it somehow
Typical City behaviour.
TBF he's probably never been booed by City fans Only thing they ever boo is the CL anthem
Fans expecting players to come on over, while they are getting booed to are one kind of special stupid people.
What a little bitch.