Match #41 - Croatia v. Belgium

I think Lukaku might be Croatian

Anyway as a guy who liked Belgium Belgium deserved to go out. If they played like they did in these last 20 minutes they would have 6 points already going into this game

Looking forward to the games in 2 hours

 

First African team to win a group since Nigeria in 1998.

21 points out of 39 (and 19 out of the last 24).

 

Since the introduction of big chances missed stat on Fotmod, I've never seen 5 big chances with 0 converted until today.

 

They should have brought in Cuypers as a striker. Sticking with the old guard lost them. Lukaku today was... wow

 

Lukaku MONUMENTAL CHOKE !!!
He killed Belgium.
His second name should be Gaston Lagaffe.

 

If Belgium played liké that from thé start they would have qualified.
I think we had match under control most of the Time but our gk is a pussy and put us in panic mode.
Josko Gvardiol is among the best young players in this World cup and among the best center backs overall he is huge.

 

Why are people shocked Lukaku missed all those chances

 

With all due respect but one of those monumental misses goes in and Croatia is out. Croatia was far from in control.

 

I nailed Group F from top to bottom. Not the point tally but the order of the teams.

 

Croatia were in controll for large stretches of the game but not at the end when Lukaku had several big chances.

 

Our gk is a pussy as said above...our défense was alright for 80-85 minutes but man didn't boss his area.
And it's not easy either to handle. When there are few minutes remaining and you don't know if you should play or protect the score. I guess it's human. Match was tense.

 

Belgium missed their chances. Croatia was overall better during the tournament.


A Croatia -Spain Round of 16 would be fun. That was one of my favorite Euro 2016 matches.

 

Croatia-Spain/Japan/(Germany/Costa Rica) you mean.

 

I meant Spain-Croatia.

 

I just saw a Lukaku miss at 90 minutes. Jeezuz !!!! Croatia that close to being eliminated.

 

Roberto Martinez has announced that he will stop as national coach of the Belgian Red Devils. pic.twitter.com/l7EBqiOAeD

— Royal Belgian FA (@RoyalBelgianFA) December 1, 2022

 

I like the way Croatia play but they were fortunate not to lose that match. I don't know why the Croation keeper didn't go out and grab that one cross that almost resulted in a Belgium goal.

Had Lukaku converted that easy header chance he had, I don't think it would have counted. It looked clearly out before De Bruyne crossed it to the box.

I thought Lakaku did well on his first chance--that one that hit the post. That was no more than a half-chance that he nearly turned into a goal.

The last one, which hit his chest, was bad. It may have surprised him and the ball was at that difficult height--not high enough to head, not low enough to kick. It was just one of those plays.

And then the Croatian centerback saved a goal with his last-second sliding clearance.....

I agree about Croatia being in control for a good part of the match---but as is usually the case in this sport when one team desperately needs to score, the other team often starts playing on the back foot, sinking too deep, and it is easy to start playing nervous football.

 

Exactly. Good read of the game.

 

Lukaku didn't have any Luk today, so I guess he was just Aku today...

 

One of the best games of the tournament, yet it finished 0-0. Croatia got lucky, but you need to deserve to be that lucky somehow. And afterwards Croatia got to play Japan instead of Spain, our black cat.

I see another semifinal, when we qualify from group, we play seven games. And it's about bloody time to defeat Portugal. If we defeat Japan first, of course.

 

I would have to put Japan as favorites in the 1/8 final. Yes, they dropped the ball vs Costa Rica, but they have been much more impressive.

Also: the winner of that game likely meets Brasil in the 1/4 final, not Portugal.

 

Japan is not favorite against us.
We have a better défense and a better midfield than both Spain and Germany.
We won't let them play the way they want.

 

Senegal's midfield was better than yours. Both Belgium and Morocco exposed major defensive holes and lack of speed.

Japan's intelligence as a unit is second to none and their defensive structure is impressive and much better than Croatia's (even if you have better players). They also looked way more threatening in attack.

Japan will be at risk due to height deficiency, especially with Itakura out.

Simply put they have played better football so far.

 

Wow, yes, I totally missed that we finished second. Jeez.