The coach of the Belgian national team, Roberto Martinez, after winning the World Cup match for the third place against England 2:0, said that his players wanted the bronze medals more. He praised Belgian football and believes that such a firm playing style has become the hallmark of the Belgian national team, according to lrytas.lt.
"We wanted to win. When you beat Brazil and reach the semi-finals, you focus only on winning the World Cup. But you need to be realistic when the tournament ends and turn back. These Belgian footballers have already made history. And that's the most important thing. The players deserve the bronze.
The generation of 1986, which participated in that World Cup, was a true inspiration for all Belgian footballers and painted them a vision of the future. It took 32 years for us to reach the third place. So I really feel satisfaction and this is our true success. And the style in which we achieved it! This is Belgian football! This is our hallmark. Our tough, energetic, and tactically clever game proves that we are a true football nation.
It was truly a beautiful and successful journey for us at the World Cup. But in football you always have to look forward, strive to improve, and take advantage of all opportunities," - said the Belgian coach after the bronze match.
Meanwhile, England's national team coach Gareth Southgate justified that he couldn't demand more effort from his emotionally and physically exhausted players.
"A coach's job is to support his players, inspire them for victories, and find the best ways to achieve success. I am very proud of what the players have achieved. They managed to achieve an extraordinary result in this tournament. This is much better than the achievements of previous England teams.
We played against one of the best teams in the world. We knew we needed new energies. Only in that case we had the opportunity to beat the Belgians. John Stones and Jordan Pickford played superbly. We are proud of our achievement. We finished the tournament among the four strongest teams, although in the world we are definitely not the fourth best national team.
This was the seventh match in a very short time. Emotionally and physically the players were exhausted. I couldn't demand more from them. For many years England couldn't win knockout matches against strong teams.
After the defeat in the semi-finals, everyone just wanted to go home. In half a day, we managed to set new goals for ourselves. We wanted to fight for medals. Sometimes the quality of our game could have been better.
We look realistically at our capabilities. We received a lot of praise, but we are looking truth in the eyes. We know where and how to improve our game. It is great that we reached the semi-finals. This gives us confidence in this team," assured G. Southgate.
One of the leaders of the England national team and the top scorer of the championship so far Harry Kane regretted missed opportunities in the second half.
"In the second half, we played really well. We pressed them against the ropes (like in boxing - lrytas.lt) in the first half-hour. We missed one ball from the goal line, but we continued to press the opponents. The boys tried their best. It was a tough tournament for us. Belgium, of course, is a good team. I can't blame any team mate. They gave it their all," he said.
The best player of the match, Eden Hazard, who scored the second goal for the Belgian national team, believes that the championship was almost ideal for him and his team mates.
"We managed to achieve an incredible result. These matches were not as interesting and important as the final, but we must be satisfied with our victory. The World Cup was almost ideal for us. Now we need to think about the future.
Am I worthy of the title of best player? I think I deserve this title not only me, but all Belgian national team footballers. The most important thing is that our team has shown the ability to improve and reach such a high level of mastery. Football is a collective sport. I never fought for personal awards," he said.
Belgian national team defender Kevin De Bruyne is convinced that they could have "troubled" the English with 4 or 5 goals.
"We are professionals. If you go to play a match, you always want to win. We tried our best. The entire tournament was amazing for us. All seven matches were very successful. We only lost one game. France is a very strong team, it was difficult for us to compete with them. We are satisfied with our performance at this World Cup. Many people liked the football we played. In the match against England, we deserved the win, scored 2 goals, and could have scored 4-5 goals," he said.
lrytas.lt
