SAMARA : Everyone remembers when England had their golden generation. David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole. Or Portugal for that matter, when Luis Figo and Rui Costa were in their prime. Neither of these teams took the World Cup by storm, proving right the adage that football isn’t played on paper. In Russia, it was Belgium who came in with their own golden generation, one that was primed and ready to conquer the world. On paper, they looked stronger than any team bar a couple. Eight of their starting eleven on Friday against Brazil turned out for the top five Premier League clubs last year.
A ninth — Thomas Meunier — played for Paris Saint-Germain. But their first few displays had more than enough hints that theirs was yet another case of all that glitters may not be gold. They won easily enough against Panama without not really being at their best. They conceded two against Tunisia. Then came one of the worst games of the tournament against England, which they followed up by nearly being dumped out of the event by Japan in the Last 16. People were wondering where the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard had disappeared.
Roberto Martinez was looking like Sven-Goran Eriksson with much less hair. But all that changed against Brazil! All of a sudden, Belgium looked close to being the sum of their ultra-talented parts. Much of it was down to the tactical switches that Martinez made. His decision to partner Marouane Fellaini and Axel Witsel in the heart of midfield liberated De Bruyne. His new role was that of a Francesco Totti-esque false nine; a part he played to perfection. Hazard too picked a good day to have his best game of this World Cup, leaving an unfortunate Fagner traumatised. Romelu Lukaku, the third wheel of their attack, was again tasked with an unfamiliar-yetfamiliar role: that of a wide forward.
The man-mountain isn’t used to this at Manchester United — his current club — but he has done this occasionally under Martinez at Everton. That the move paid off can be judged by the number of times the forward held the ball up after the defence had shunted it out onto the flank, before successfully relaying it to the advancing De Bruyne and Hazard. Even the much-maligned Fellaini dispossessed Brazil’s main threat Neymar no less than five times.
The only part of his team that would have worried Martinez was the defence. Brazil had more than enough chances to score their second and take the game to extra time. Despite the presence of stalwarts like Vincent Kompany, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, the Red Devils looked light at the back. Yet, holding everything together was an in-form Thiabut Courtois, who produced save after save. As Brazil coach Tite admitted after the game, De Bruyne might have been the best player on the pitch, but Courtois wasn’t far behind. Martinez chose to downplay the effect his tactical shift had on the result. “In the end, the players have to believe in the tactics.
I have never lost a game at the tactical board. I’ve only lost on the pitch. Today wasn’t about tactics. It was about mentality. I gave a very difficult assignment to the players, and today they believed until the last minute.” One of the veteran Brazilian journalists was heard recollecting a story about the last time the two teams met in the World Cup. After Brazil lifted the 2002 World Cup, their coach Luis Felipe Scolari had apparently told the assembled press that his most difficult game of the tournament — the one where it all came together — was their 2-0 win against Belgium in the Last 16. If his team continues playing like how they did in the first half on Friday, Martinez may find himself in a position to return the compliment. vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com