The Toxic Collapse of Belgium’s Golden Generation

[@RaymarFootball]

What are your thought about Belgium's golden generation?

[@FutureFootballer16]

It is goated

[@magivkmeister6166]

World class players but poor chemistry.

[@JobHans]

great but lost to a team equally as strong in france and bottled it against an Italy wich they really should have won(Witsel who was allergic to forward passes). One of the few positives out of that 2021tournament is Doku

[@footballingcentral7085]

I feel like you can find the same pattern in some of these national teams. Strong deadly attack, good to decent midfield, and the defense is either not that great or is horrible. Belgium 2018 who dominated the group stage came short due to their defense giving so much space in the box or outside the box for people can take a shot. This can be seen numerous times in the knockout stage of Belgium's run. (Japan's goals despite losing, Brazil's goal despite losing, France's chances in the first half, I don't count umtiti's goal), all show how much space this squad had left for opposition teams can just shoot if they place it right. This big flaw was carried out with them until Euro 2024 when they finally started defending tighter.

[@its_master_Roshi]

They reached third in world cup 2018. Which is a great feat. You can't call they failed.

[@BallinLikeMike23]

You even forgot to mention great players like Mertens, Dembele and Carasco 🔥

[@Pangolyn530]

Real they were all ballers in their prime. I hope Belgium and the Netherlands win a international trophy soon in the future. You have great ball knowledge ngl

[@oliverorchard6774]

Even Thorgan Hazard (Eden Hazard's brother) was also pretty solid.

[@BallinLikeMike23]

Doku is the future of Belgium

[@tpsam]

​@@Pangolyn530 fuck Belgium but the Netherlands are long overdue since Argentina robbery in 78

[@SpiralRasen]

Naingolan! King Radja!

[@oliverorchard6774]

When Kompany retired and Hazard became really unfit at the end of the 2010s, that pretty much marked the end of Belgium's golden generation.

[@andredeketeleastutecomplex]

It was over when Benteke got injured, and Lukaku had to take his place. Lukaku is useless with his back to the opponent's goal, he doesn't feel the defenders in his back.

[@unknownname6519]

Benteke was underrated... Solid player who scores then it matters the most

[@shanks2872]

@@andredeketeleastutecomplex Dude only scores when it doesn't matter, he can't do shit against the big teams but scores twice against Tunisia.

[@gatheringmoments]

in 2018 Belgium were not the winner but they were the best... That's the sad truth of football

[@SuqMaDiqHo]

Agreed, crazy how they used a back three & did what they did & on top of that they really took everyone apart in the counter. People brush over how they SMOKED England & Brazil in the counter.

[@woklam342]

u dream my friend. belgium has easy poule , then only strongest team was france and later they were champion😮. belgium has a good team but can t beat top 5 teams

[@prodige3877]

@@woklam342what are you smoking

[@woklam342]

@@prodige3877 u potato boy , admit belgium team are loser, can t accept they were weaker

[@vincentpeeters1157]

@@woklam342 Yeah Brazil was just a a breeze

[@ayushmanpathak4145]

If only Courtois never Rizzed Kevin's Girlfriend 😔

[@GarbanzoBeansFan]

😂

[@bread3613]

😂😂

[@spinyslasher6586]

Feel bad for Belgian football federation, imagine all your investments into a golden generation being ruined by a single player being a massive asshole. Really shows the fine margins in football.

[@m7ray]

I am not aware of these matters, how did it affect the Belgian national team. Did De Bruyne refuse to play on the same team with Cortouis or what?

[@spinyslasher6586]

@@m7ray they refused to talk, and it made the training and dressing room atmosphere very awkward as they were supposed to be the team leaders (since Kompany was slowly entering retirement). Having two team leaders who refused to communicate with each other hurts the overall team chemistry a lot.

[@kaspereersels8866]

Bit simplistic in my opinion. I see three main reasons that we never managed to win: - Age gap: the golden generation defenders and holding midfielders were al born between 85-87 whereas our strikers, playmakers and wingers were born 91-95. This was a huge problem because there was no prior generation to fall back on, resulting in our defenders only playing their first major international tournament at age 28. So we only had 2-3 tournaments to peak. - Small budget for coaching staff. After Wilmots we needed a top coach with a world class reputation. But we did not have any good Belgian candidates and lacked the budget to get a top tier foreigner. Martinez wasn’t horrible but wasn’t great either. Too mediocre for what we needed. - The lack of wingbacks or fullbacks. While we had insane depth in central defense, the midfield and even in attack, with substitutes playing for Man United, Tottenham, Roma, Liverpool, Napoli… we only had Meunier as a decent fullback. This resulted in Alderweireld, Vertonghen and even Carrasco playing as fullbacks or wingbacks. The gossip about KDB and Courtois is not entirely accurate. Courtois was at Atletico and KDB had already broken up with the girl for a while. There was a bit of friction but they talked it through with the coach. Afterwards both players married women that are much more beautiful and became fathers. So it didnt affect the team during the crucial 2016-21 period. Apart from the three reasons above there is the fact that a unique Belgian generation has to compete with Argentina, Brazil, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, England… Huge football nations that always have highly skilled players in each generation.

[@DealOrNoDeal01]

Exactly, couldn’t have said it better.

[@thecreekfan]

Coaching indeed.

[@antagonisticfish]

very good explanation

[@JorisVDC]

Very good analysis, I would emphasis the lack of courage and vision from Martinez, and of course the Belgian football association having no balls at all. IMHO We truly had a chance at silverware, if there was a better coach leading the team. It seemed as if he couldn't handle the star status of his best players and as a result you didn't have a team on the pitch. He relied too heavily on Romulu Lukaku and kept him in the squad, even when his form was bad. What Martinez" greatest mistake was to leave Naygolan at home, because his bad reputation outside the pitch. While he was a missing ingredient vs France: a tenacious midfielder who regain position by his beautiful 'Tomahawk Tackle' and he had a fantastic long range strike to break open a closed match. I haven't watched Belgian football ever since, but the last tournament I watched you could see how KDB was still putting everything he had into the games, but he knew that there simply is too little cohesion to deliver any meaningful results. He clearly differed on the tactics with other players, and given his talent, he should have been the captain all along. His work ethos and grinta made him the perfect captain. Instead Hazard was chosen on star factor, while he is way too laid back to be a proper captain. Don't get me wrong, I really like how Hazard never truly gave a F*, he was just there to have fun and make defenders look bad.

[@steveimmutable8408]

@@JorisVDC Relied too much on Lukaku, Proven by World Cup 2022, where he didn't start any of the games (injuried) and is the only big tournament since 2014 that they didn't survive the group stage ;)

[@tinopeeteersch1334]

As a Belgian, I can honestly say this video has a lot of inaccuracies, over exaggerations and is just poorly made

[@asapV_27]

yeah taking hot points on internet and putting it together without adding anything new .

[@bekhele]

lots of these drama's where totoally no big issues at all, and the game in 2018 agaisnt france we played conservative? lol, it was france that digged in in front fo their goal and it was plain impossible to break down such a formidable super defence. 2018 showed this team was the opposite of lacking chemistry, it was by far the best team of the tournament, creating the most attacks, chances and scored the most goals. but france was just a tough nut. these things happen in football. also wild not 1 mention about the coaches as they had absolute pivotal roles for the failures definetly wilmots

[@goranvandenpoel9775]

Man said that Lukaku had beef with bats, and then shows a foto of lukaku and his brother Jordan 😂. Also completely missed the Leicester relegated players…. One proper google and he would get the right pictures.

[@uafc1]

@@goranvandenpoel9775 To be fair, black people look all the same

[@jaboy150]

They were unfortunate to come up amoungst other golden generations (Spain early 2010s, Germany mid 2010s, France late 2010s and then Argentina in early 2020).

[@jonisilk]

And Wales in between.

[@kinGsaL1515]

Argentina was not a golden generation, neither was Germany imo. Spain and France definitely were though.

[@earl.c]

Argentina isn't a golden generation. They're just a well-oiled machine. (IMHO they're a borderline Champions League side + Messi, whereas France is built like Real Madrid) Germany isn't either. They were just the most talented team, some of whom are old (Lahm).

[@JobHans]

@@FragLord most of their players from their golden gen already xhere past it

[@Pilot.p7]

Argentina is not a Golden generation stop being delusional

[@SYKim_94]

The fact that both HITC sevens and raymar made a video about the 2018 Belgium squad just go to show how much potential they had.

[@briannao9251]

Facts!!!

[@hellionus]

Also Maqwell.

[@DimBeam1]

They make videos on subjects that'll get views. You're thinking too much.

[@SYKim_94]

@@DimBeam1 can’t it be both?

[@DimBeam1]

@@SYKim_94 Could, but its not.

[@s--cn8ee]

How could Mousa Dembélé not be mentioned among their best talents?He is so underrated

[@thamsanqabuthelezi8460]

Loved that guy.

[@stefverniers]

He was the reason why we couldn't get forward against France in the semi final

[@DimBeam1]

average

[@s--cn8ee]

@@DimBeam1 I once read a statistic about him that during his 6 and a half seasons with Tottenham, he only lost the ball 13 times. He is always praised by high-level players such as Rudiger and Walker

[@s--cn8ee]

@@stefverniers He had passed his peak within that time

[@isaacjones5687]

Chemistry played a big part imo. When we beat them in the quarter finals of euro 2016, it felt like we had a team playing against 11 individuals. There’s no way any competent squad of players, especially with the talent of Belgium, should be making Sam Vokes and Hal Robson Kanu look 10x the players they are, against arguably the best squad on paper at Euro 2016. Chemistry is increadibly important. If our squad lacked in chemistry, we would be around the 60s or 70s in fifa world rankings, but because our squad has such a strong identity, we are able to go toe to toe with teams 10x better than us, such as Poland, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands etc. because what we lack in quality, we make up for with our squads chemistry. Gary Speed put a big emphasis on togetherness and squad chemistry, during his stint as manager which has been carried out ever since. Before speed we were 118th, since he’s implemented those values into our squad, we’ve risen as high as 8th, and have been consistantly in the top 30-35 for the past decade.

[@nicopoelmans7132]

One of the biggest problems in that match was actually the missing of both Vertonghen (injured) and Vermaelen (expelled) in the same match, which were both prime before their absence. We didn’t have any quality on the bench that could replicate even half of that quality, in both technical and tactical regard. They could also glue the individuals of the team or at least mask the errors from the individuality. I think if the quality of your bench differs that much from your first team, you would need an incredible amount of luck to get to the very final stage of a tournament.

[@Johnnythefirst]

It's not an excuse because on paper we should have still been better, but we had about one decent defender left for that game, and a manager who thought "hoof the ball to hazard" was a tactic.

[@kingfayaiz44]

When you see the chemistry of the Argentine team, Belgian is nothing. Even though Belgian team had much more talent than Argentina team. But Bonding between the players for Messi is heartwarming. This is the reason they won 4 major titles in 4 years.

[@fede3j]

Argentina's talent is superior, except maybe for defence

[@Redouan13]

​@@fede3j Lol, Belgium's main weak point was their defense. Their fullbacks specifically.

[@Johnnythefirst]

While this is all true: without Messi there would have been no world cup. Not even close.

[@agv-vt8co]

​@@JohnnythefirstNo one said the opposite. You're just proving his point 👍

[@nicolaslatorre810]

I think they reached their full potential. They were at the peak of their powers around the 2018 world cup and the subsequent euro. They made 3rd place there and quarterfinals eliminated in a close game by Italy who were champions. They went as far as they could. They faced better teams who were the winners. Period. They weren't a failure, they produced all they could and did fairly well playing amazing football and staying 1st many years.

[@mikerich3741]

How are you mentioning fellaini but failed to mention mousa dembele 🤣

[@dannyboywoks6002]

@jimmy_butler delete this comment immediately

[@jomancool55]

Bahaha even KdB said mousa is good while never talking about Fellaini.

[@crazyballer333]

@jimmy_butler I am a United fan and I can confirm that Fellaini wasn't even as good as Dembele's right foot

[@goranvandenpoel9775]

@@dannyboywoks6002for Belgium he was.

[@chris-lh6ol]

Im sorry but a failure is a gross term to used. For a small country like Belgium their golden generation was incredible, performed better than England's golden generation. They were matched up against other golden generations with much more resources. Although Belgium had a terrific squad, they had weaknesses and a sever lack of depth, something which germany, france etc. never had a problem with. Euro 2016 however I feel they shldve definitely beat wales but other than that, it wasnt a total failure.

[@spinyslasher6586]

Exactly. The entire squad was overhyped by a few good players. Football teams need way more than just the starting XI, there's the bench squad, the auxillary squad, the U21s/18s, the management, the committee etc. They all need to work together to win trophies. People never consider how team chemistry, tactics and opposition analysis is done, the game isn't completely played on the pitch, a lot of it is off the pitch, in the training ground and dressing room.

[@johan8969]

@@spinyslasher6586 Thats.... What Raymar said? "They all need to work together to win trophies". Kind of hard to "work together" when there is serious drama on even the first pick team.

[@spinyslasher6586]

@@johan8969 Raymar never mentions their lack of depth.

[@Johnnythefirst]

@@spinyslasher6586 We only had (too much) depth in midfield. As soon as more than one first choice defender or Lukaku got injured, we were lost. Everybody was laughing at Romelu for missing four open chances in that one half game he played on the 2022 World Cup, but they forgot to mention that 1. It was his first game in months and he was still playing in pain. 2. He helped creating more chances in that half than the rest of Belgium did in the 2.5 games other games. Without Lukaku, we become powerless.

[@spinyslasher6586]

@@Johnnythefirst The fact that Belgium's only hope as a nation aspiring to be atleast top 3 in the world in Lukaku, shows the actual level of Belgium. No offense to Lukaku, he's a good player in his days, but he's not the guy I'd look to carry a nation in the World Cup on his back.

[@johntreherne4611]

For me it was having bang average managers which cost Belgium. Although the likes of Spain side early on the German side in 2014 and France after 2016 were superior not just in terms of team work but playing personal. Spain between 08 and 12 probably one if not the best national team ever to play the game.

[@mrboast2826]

I mean it's Fa Belgium we talking about

[@earl.c]

They could have used a Tuchel.

[@mrboast2826]

@@earl.c When ? At that golden time Tuchel have a lot of high profile job interested on him

[@earl.c]

@@mrboast2826 should’ve been clearer i meant someone like tuchel, not necessarily him. that said, for him per se 2016 was the best chance; 1 year at BVB, good reputation, not yet being chased 2018 is a stretch (Bayern and PSG pursued him) 2020- was no longer golden generation

[@hessen5498]

​@@earl.c "someone like Tuchel" is such a big Stretch lmao. Where are you going to find some like him?

[@Yajna007]

Rajda Nainggolan, Dries Mertens, and many others

[@juckoosaurus]

2018 was probably the closest this generation ever got to actually win a major trophy. Descamps terrorist ball stopped the red devils machine lol. While Croatia's team were more cohesive and technically gifted, almost all their k/o games went into extra time and they were very visibly drained by the final. Hazard and Lukaku would have run riot on that tired defense. But all this is merely what if.

[@Iondaime100]

terrorist ball aka box to box football😅

[@Johnnythefirst]

@@Iondaime100 Boring, cowardly football. France have had the most quality of any nation by far for the last 6 years, but nine out of ten games they play atrociously. This last Euros painful to see. England has the same problem btW.

[@maximusorbis2548]

Failure is a massive reach, even other countries golden generation is just average for the big countries. And besides Hazard, De Bruyne, Cortois, and sometimes Lukaku, you would be hard pressed to call any of the other players genuinely world class

[@idk-dz3fo]

Kompany was world class

[@maximusorbis2548]

@@idk-dz3fo that’s true but he came a little before those 4 and dealt with injuries too

[@mrboast2826]

@@idk-dz3fo Too old when other top talent reach their peak...He was world class but he past his prime when like Kevin ,Hazard and other reach best of the best performance

[@Khanismechy]

The sad part is now they only have one world class player😢

[@deandoesstuff3371]

@@Khanismechy Yeah because the current team is young...There's definitely players with world class potential tho. Give them a few years.

[@tapiwanyakabau4058]

They were much better than France ?? I'm 2018? Nah what are we on about the France with Mbapppe, Kante in form Pogba and all those guys. Losing by one against those is very fair effort

[@Dunkyoudood]

2018 france was just on a whole other level than belgium

[@tonybaihao4178]

15:19 That France team still had big names, with Antoine Griezmann, the best player from the previous Euro, Olivier Giroud who was bossing it with Arsenal, Raphaël Varane, a 4 time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, the magical Paul Pogba. The others might not have been household names (Mbappé and Kanté were still up and coming), but it didn't mean France were worse than Belgium on paper. Both teams were actually very close in level, at the match proved : no goals scored from open play, not even off-side ones.

[@doubleophysiquecreation1525]

KDB @ 16:55 is correct here ✅ As much as he was part of Belgium's 🇧🇪 golden generation, the France team that beat then were also generational with Varane, Kante, (an on song Pogba), Griezmann and Mbappe. That game could have went either way. The problem with the "golden generation " label 🏷️ is that it makes people forget how good OTHER teams are as well. Tournament football comes down to moments and experience because more than one team is realistically capable of winning. Belgium didn't have much (sustained) experience as a top ranked nation and moments didn't go for them. This video also laid out many reasons why the team couldn't win a major trophy 🏆 despite the talent they had. Some of this could be said for England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 too.

[@randomhooman3236]

they did lose to wales in 2016 euros and to argentina in 2014 wc which was being carried by messi

[@doubleophysiquecreation1525]

@@randomhooman3236 - and they lost those games 🎮 for many of the reasons outlined in this video.

[@ezraezra2928]

The France vs Belgium game could have went either way if we look at the squads for both teams. France had several good players like Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann, Raphael Varane, and N'Golo Kante. They had almost won the Euro 2016 with almost the same World Cup squad where they lost to Portugal in the Final at home (it could be a different fate if Cristiano Ronaldo didn't got injured).

[@khervan]

Only 9 players who played the 2016 euro were in the 2018 squad for France, yes they had that player pool.

[@EshaanGeorge]

so mbappe wasnt a good player for france?

[@CharlesOffdensen]

They didn't qualify for Euro 2000, they were the shared hosts.

[@vincentpeeters1157]

This team was so much fun to watch, they went to Fifa ranking 1, yes, not a big prize, but what a joy, so happy and proud to have been able to witness that for a country of 12 million people. And everybody wanted to watch the Belgians, they made us proud, yes, they did

[@MoonlightMaskG]

They had a great run, the 2018 wc was stacked they went pretty far

[@BOSNIAN_EDITZ11]

Hazard dribbling

[@joppewouters4048]

As a Belgian kid I loved this team to death, but after such disappointed finishes and the reveal of this drama around 2020, has buried this golden generation as one of my country's biggest missed opportunities

[@stefverniers]

I dare to say our chances at the 2018 WC would become greater if Naingolan was playing for the national team

[@Kitsibalogh]

For sure that man was a live rocket launcher and was very good in those years

[@Herosennin]

De Bruyne is right. We always say 'that talented team was supposed to win' while there are always MULTIPLE teams who do. These games are decided on details and luck or the opposite of it. Only thing feasible influencing it is mentality, but even then its still a gamble.

[@滋榎本]

Throughout much of the 2010s, little ol’ Belgium had arguably the best starting XI in the world. Eden Hazard was ripping it up at Chelsea, Kevin de Bruyne had established himself as Manchester City’s main man, and Romelu Lukaku was well on his way to becoming his country’s all-time top goal scorer. It’s unlikely Belgium will ever have such a talented group of players ever again.

[@deandoesstuff3371]

Eh, debatable. There is still alot of talent in Belgium. Young players such as Doku, Openda, De Keteleare, Onana, Vermeeren, Duranville etc... Maybe having another player like Hazard or De Bruyne is gonna be difficult, they were generational talents. But there's definitely players with world class potential.

[@Kevin-fj3ff]

belgium now has more talent than ever though

[@andrewjoyce9038]

No they don't. Their players are average now

[@AXELVISSERS]

Belgium got 2nd in euro 1970 and 4th in wc 1986. We will be back and actually win something.

[@AXELVISSERS]

​@@Kevin-fj3ff that's just false.

[@hessen5498]

Kevin was right, Its the same case with The Netherlands and England. Other nations were simply better.

[@RaymarFootball]

I don't think that's necessarily the case, that Belgium squad (at an individual level) had a very solid and deep squad. They were the 3rd longest to ever be ranked #1 after all

[@hessen5498]

@@RaymarFootball Bro Raymar don't get fooled by the FIFA rankings. They were mostly achieved by farming easy friendlies. France really had more Quality aswell as Player in better form Like Mbappé, Griezmann, Lloris and Umtiti.

[@mthobelinkume862]

I thought you'd mention Dembele in that midfield. Great video❤️

[@tanzolo4487]

As a Belgian, I have to say this title is absolutely insulting. It’s very simple: We lost against France 0-1 . We were the better team. They scored from a set piece. Mbappe had to resort to time wasting near the sideline. They won. Everyone knows if we would’ve played Croatia we would’ve been world champions. And you’d all be signing us praise. 1 game. 1 set piece. That’s the margin of what you call a “failed” vs “Succeeded” generation. 1 game? Unlike Italy or the Netherlands we actually managed to qualify for each big tournament, also unlike Germany or Spain we managed to get out of the group stage each time. They didn’t fail. Raymar you are KZbin’s *football* *dude* for sure. But you’re spitting absolute nonesense here, like a daft muppet. We are a small country. This generation got 3rd in a world cup. The highest we ever gotten. In Belgium, they are heroes. We couldn’t be more proud. And forever will be.

[@Spoon3rYT]

Spitting facts here. Yes, there was a bit of a toxic relationship between some players, but goddamnit we did put a prestation there in 2018 never to be forgotten. We are still a team to be feared. The infrastructure of the youth working teams is still there and is pumping out a new generation of talent. We are now in a bit of a dip because we're changing generations, the team is unrecognizable from a couple years back. Older players fell out, new players need to adapt to get in. Every country sees this dip from time to time. We'll be back.

[@Zerodess]

exactly, the issues in the team were never that big and resolved pretty fast with that generation. This video is not well researched for sure. It looks like he looked for every sensational headline and only focussed on them. I'm very dissapointed in this video..

[@johanshakshor2707]

Firstly he is right about the chemistry stuff

[@tchellovalente2373]

Lmaoo heroes, dont speak for us, small coumntdy? We have as many people as portugal 3 times more then Uruguay, no excuses, prima donnas, hazard, lukaku, courtois, all weak mentally, de bruine when he plays for belgium isnt close to club form. Stop with the excuses, they aint no heroes, when we where playing you where bot saying we where a small team, faullure made u switch up. The worst about this generation is that if any of them had 25% of that ronaldo mentality and work ethic we would have won. Bunch of soft egocentric primadonnas

[@Titot182]

Battlefield were so fire in the 2010's that EA did a mashup of Fifa and Battlefield. I never forget my first time I had a go on Battlefield Vincent Kompany

[@user-mj8pc1sf4h]

Coming from a Croatian myself, they were much better side and all they did was finishing 3rd at the world cup what Croatia managed to achieve at two back to back world cups... its clear that they lacked chemistry and a bit of luck, what Croatia had in the end

[@Justinyohousecooking]

Says Dennis Praet and shows Dries Mertens 🥴 Says everything about how well this guy knows what he’s talking about

[@FakeJules]

Finally someone that's not talking trash about the Belgian national team

[@joseph-fernando-piano]

The final nail in the golden generation's coffin was definitely after their first match of the 2022 World Cup, the match that made everyone say "wow, they were really lucky to pull out the win against Canada..."

[@Casdauwers13]

These guys made a small country united and together and gave us loads of joy when they where clicking it was awesome to watch! Thanks devils & mr martinez what a run!

[@agustinjr.enriquez6238]

I would’ve loved to see France v Belgium in the 2018 World Cup final

[@nyoom_1]

Me as a belgian was in France while it happened, we were in a café and all the french were cheering, we were so sad

[@Cimgib]

Dont Forget that Belgium is a small country compared to the other countries so what they did is big. Respect to them.

[@Loser-cn5os]

10:46 arent those pictures of Jordan Lukaku instead of Batshuayi?

[@vta2265]

Its honestly the same thing with the golden age of the english team back in late 90s to early 2000s. People say that they underachieved and should've won everything, but totally forget that they were going up against prime brazil, prime france, prime holland, prime italy and more. Then there were teams like Spain, Germany, Argentina, Portugal and etc that were up there too. Their best bet was 2018 world cup, but at the end of the day, there were more competent teams than Belgium.

[@ridgundd7932]

the did not dissapoint me. we are a small country we had no backups for our superstars. we just got lucky that they were from the same generation and i enjoyed there matches. so i am happy with the joy they gave us.

[@amanmehta3026]

Hazard was their only true maverick, as soon as he fell off, the whole Belgian team fell off. People underrate and downplay Hazard's impact so much. Belgium finished 3rd in WC2018 and Hazard was the second best player in the tournament

[@gudius]

He was easily the best player if being real

[@Kitsibalogh]

He was the best, but the best player award goes to a finalist

[@local_ITA]

Belgium randomly generating an absolutely stunning and gifted generation of footballers every forty years

[@byKrono]

it's crazy how many good players Belgium had in 2018, more than any other team in the world (Courtois, Casteels, Boyata, Kompany, Meunier, Vermaelen, De Bruyne, Tielemans, Witsel, E. Hazard, T. Hazard, Mertens, Lukaku)

[@SonnyK248]

Mousa Dembele was another one. One of the most underrated players to ever play in the Premier League. Also Dries Mertens was one of the best players in Serie A in his prime. They had so many great players that guys like this become afterthoughts.

[@jf9229]

Their number one spot is testament to their consistency: for a long time they rarely if ever failed to get a result against weaker sides on paper. Against teams that were around their level on paper, the margins were much finer and form, injuries, internal conflict, mangerial limitations, lack of depth in certain positions, all become much more relevant. For the most part the team performed as expected. Football is a fairly chaotic game when it comes to the moments that define matches, and all in all I can't think of many games in which the team was outplayed in a way that didn't give them a chance to get a result had one or two moments had gone the other way. So that's another way you can interpret "chaotic failure."

[@thamindu_54]

They even had Mousa Dembélé in the midfield

[@ishaandas3006]

Not mentioning Dembele, Mertens, Carrasco etc is pretty weird. Great video as always but I often feel that some players are often left out on favour of more known players in your videos.

[@kinGsaL1515]

Tbf in the Euros luck was just not on their side. It was the first time I watch Belgium/Lulakau disappoint and actually be like "fair enough"

[@spinyslasher6586]

Who's Lulakau?

[@kinGsaL1515]

@@spinyslasher6586 thats what I get for typing on my phone smh

[@EliasRoy]

Lulakau😂😂😂😂

[@Hidden-Secrets]

Man you sound like duke devlin in the abridged version. I suddenly hear "sexy back" in my head. 😂😂😂

[@1983fuzzy]

Their chemistry was just fine, only kevin and thibaut had beef. There was no other major rivalry between the rest, especially not between romelu and michy. The facts Kevin and Eden pointed out were a common discussion in Belgium, that was no insult to the rest of the team

[@karussoul]

I remember in 2014 where Belgium played four center backs in their backline. Alderweireld RB, Van Buyten RCB, Kompany LCB, and Vertonghen LB. Kompany had always played RCB in City, and he had to play LCB because the 36 year old Van Buyten was even weaker with his left. In 2016, they finally played a proper RB in Meunier, but what's baffling was how they sacrificed the CB partnership of Alderweireld and Vertonghen who were really good at Tottenham, to accommodate Vermaelen who barely played at Barcelona.. by playing Vertonghen at LB. Their first game was against Italy, who played mid table club players like Giaccherini, Pelle, and Parolo, also with their star players like Buffon, Chiellini, and De Rossi already in their thirties. On paper, it should have been an easy win for Belgium, but Conte's men outplayed Belgium, not giving them a sniff. To be fair, Conte's Italy was a force to be reckoned with despite their ageing stars and mid table players, it was just embarrassing for Belgium to be so outclassed.

[@nowa2425]

Even tough this was our golden generation, they also inspired a lot of young players from Belgium (Doku for ex) and showed them it's possible to be a starplayer

[@Freshbreadthe2nd]

Belgiums players are still salty to this day about France loss in 2018, that's the main problem with this team, always thinking they were above everyone else and never able to learn from defeat. Sore losers rarely become great champions

[@jasonb6860]

i shudder to think how many finals they would have reached had Lukaku, Hazard, De Bruyne and Courtois all stayed at Chelsea together and actually developed chemistry.

[@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan]

"If you choose the best player for each position, you don't have a strong team, but a team that falls apart like loose sand." - Johan Cruijff

[@freddiemercury2075]

How is Vincent Kompany a "low-quality" defender ??? He's literally Belgium best defender ever.

[@Kuromori-v9z]

He was labeled low quality AT THE TIME he signed for City, not currently.

[@d3m1g0d4]

Most Golden Generations Tend To Fail, Soo.........

[@Adrian-cg3my]

I’m surprised Dembele and mertens didn’t get a mention, but Belgium were not the favourites vs France in 2018, that was an incredibly strong France squad that was stacked in all positions, it wasn’t a missed opportunity at all France were just better on the day

[@marcoreus3091]

its crime that dembele isnt mentioned

[@newbie4789]

What a video recommendation right as I moved to Brussels

[@emmamclachlan-wm4en]

had so much potential 😢

[@rogerioceni2640]

I guarantee you, hardly any Man City fans thought that about Kompany when they signed him. He was one of the most highly rated youngsters in Europe who had been heavily linked with Arsenal and Inter before going to HSV. It was considered a massive coup.

[@subzfit]

Moussa Dembele is their best player. Just an awesome player. Never saw him lose possession.

[@mainaksen5064]

belgium's golden generation is eden hazard's prime

[@khurramabbas9864]

Belgium had the same issues England had in the 2000s, lack of team chemistry, squad depth and big match awareness. It's a shame, they had good players, but at times they looked disjointed. Maybe a new Belgium team with less personal baggage and more team players will emerge in the near future.

[@Superglitchym]

What Belgium needs is a leader.

[@Zamppa86]

Now it makes perfect sense and is very easy to understand why Courtois has chosen to play for clubs like Chelsea and Real Madrid...

[@yannickadriaans1238]

As a Dutchman there were times i was impressed by the Red Devils squad and they truly could make history but it was indeed the lack of chemistry. But this video showing much more what happened outside the fields tells me more now. It kinda reminds me that these things also happened in the past at the Dutch national team which costed us great opportunities to perform or even a trophy. For example in the 70s when dutch football was in their prime with Total football, Ajax and Feyenoord were winning Champions Leagues and in the national team they were doing great with players like Cruijff, Neeskens and Van Hanegem. But there was also a great generation of PSV with players like Van Der Kuijlen (all time topscorer eredivisie) and goalkeeper Van Beveren. But first names were treated like Kings and got a higher salary because of their status, while from 1974 on, PSV would become dominant in the Netherlands. Arguments about calling names and not equal salary resulting in not passing the ball to PSV players and suddenly stepping out of the national team. Coaches unfortunately choose sides instead of doing something for both sides. Who knows we could have won the world cup in 1974 if the PSV players were the missing pieces of great 70s generation... 1978 was different because the world cup took place in a filthy dictatorship. Last example was between 1988 and 1990 (world cup Italy). The Netherlands won the euros and we were hoping they could perform the same way on the world cup. But when coach Michels left, the team wanted a new coach and they decided to choose between three coaches (including Cruijff, which was the favourite after voting) but they got someone else and the players were disappointed. Also the chemistry was not there because everyone felt like the star of the team and they should be the best on the field to bring the world cup, a so called patat-generatie (Chips-generation). Result; 3 draws in the group stage, knock out from West Germany in the last 16, with the Spit-incident. Last time we had a crisis was after the world cup 2014, but that was more about the continuously switching between coaches and staff. But we missed qualification to 2016, 2018 for sure because of that and some skilled players retarded. While Belgium was doing great! Conclusion, it might be more of a low country thing. Where big countries like Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Brazil, Argentina could succeed or overcome. Smaller countries like Belgium and the Netherlands are highly fragile to greed, rivalry and weakness.

[@AXELVISSERS]

Best Belgian ever was Luc Nilis in my opinion.

[@yannickadriaans1238]

​@AXELVISSERSHe was a great player, deserved more credits. But unfortunately he had that terrible injury at Aston Villa. I wonder what happened if that didnt happen.

[@daanvdw1235]

Those aren't pictures of Lukaku and Batshuayi; they're of Romelu with his brother Jordan, who was playing for Lazio at the time. Additionally, the incident between De Bruyne and Courtois happened over a decade ago. De Bruyne has made it clear he never held any animosity toward Courtois, so it’s hard to see why that would have created issues on the field. It's worth noting that the chemistry between the older and newer players has waned only since Courtois decided to step back from the national team last year. Belgium only truly had a world-class team-ranked among the top three-in 2018, when they secured third place, losing only to the team that was at their level. In 2014 and 2016, the squad was too young, and by 2021, many players were recovering from injuries. Labeling this generation as a "flop" or claiming they lacked chemistry is simply inaccurate. Only one team can win a tournament, and a single loss in the knockout stage can lead to elimination. If Belgium had experienced a bit more luck in 2018, they might have won the World Cup, and we would be viewing that generation as a success.

[@sanisani7681]

They were peak in 18', favourites on the tournament and only then

[@Jamadron]

Tbf KDB wasnt that wrong about other countrys, the 2010's had so many incredible national Teams. Probably the most fun to watch football time i whitnessed. Doesnt change that they had an incredible national team too, so much potential and a really good leader with kompany. Chemistry was probably the biggest problem, thats why Germany was so strong in the early 2010's, the guys loved each other and we had multiple leaders, both mentally and by play.

[@RoyalFish7]

Imagine Belgium 🇧🇪 won 2018 World Cup

[@deromini4979]

Nice video (at 12:24 its Mertens, not Praet)

[@trshtimgotya1014]

As a belgian... chills

[@VxctorG7]

just wait till they call me up for 2026 world cup squad im gon show the world a true egoista

[@francocapdevila7711]

they weren't the golden generation, they just were Hazard's prime.

[@alexbarber3310]

This is how I feel England may be reflected upon after letting Southgate have (in my view) 2 more tournaments than he really should have been allowed.

[@MartinGall1]

Nice video, but just for note, at 12:23 you mention Castagne/Tielemans/Praet, you correctly show Tielemans, but you show Mertens when mentioning Praet, and... is this Castagne ? I can't figure out who this is (the first one) if it's Castagne then it's from a very weird angle haha No idea if the idea was to show them but Praet was clearly wrong here By the way I'm Belgian, and defeat to Wales is clearly the worst defeat of this generation, worst than defeat to France in 2018.

[@Japspre]

You're showing Jordan Lukaku while mentioning Batsman Same for Mertens while mentioning Praet

[@kwanlinus6999]

One of the biggest factors not mentioned in this video is Roberto Martinez and his awful tactics Roberto Martinez's agent needs a pay rise. The fact that Roberto Martinez somehow always fails upwards in his career puzzles everyone.

[@JupiterVolume2]

Marc Wilmots being fired from his head coach job was the very start of the downfall. The other X factor is how many times France screwed them over by scoring and then playing like a bunch of puss till the final whistle

[@thex2again]

And yet, us Belgians still support our national team, Vincent Kompany is now the coach of München, so maybe we’ll get a new golden generation if he replaces Domenico Tedesco

[@abiy2021]

Talking abt prime players but not mentioning mertens or radja is mf crime

[@wiliamochiquele723]

As Belgian resident, I will tell you right now that this is typical Belgian behavior

[@riccardoferrazzo8283]

You forgot to say that they never had an elite coach.

[@shamsudiindaud]

I have noticed that Mitchy and Lukaku never played or played along side together,,,,I always found it bit strange but Benteke was never mention in video

[@jameslancefield9810]

Vincent Kompany was a well known wonderkid when city bought him.

[@minatodroger7890]

Why no picture of of mitchy??? Also they gave martinez the team why give that manager their golden generation.

[@azlan1759]

talks about Romelu and Michy, but shows 2 pictures of Romelu and his brother Jordan, is confusing

[@Kolonel17]

Hazard was the best of the golden generation.

[@HectorMariecote]

I wouldnt consider one goal extra time win where opponents gk saved the most shots ever in world cup an easy win.

[@ItsMeHammie]

I truly believed Belgium was bound to win a World Cup. Shame they couldn't pull it together.

[@BCplayz22_]

Please do a story about bafana bafana (south africa) please i watched every vid u ever posted ❤❤❤

[@ZOTTNPEET]

Imo the greatest mistake will forever be 1. Playing 3 Back always instead of 4 2. Not letting Nainggolan play because he smokes 3. Attack was focused to much solely on Lukaku. Look at how easier things went when for example Mertens and Hazard did their thing instead of always giving everything to Lukaku

[@PaulBerden-h5t]

Day 2: Asking for a video about the legendary Juninho (player with the most free kick goals in football history) and his Lyon (the team that won the french league 7 times in a row (something no other French team has achieved).