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Eden Hazard appeared to bear the brunt of Belgium fans’ fury as Roberto Martinez’s side crashed out of the World Cup.
WIth Morocco beating Canada, the Red Devils needed three points against Croatia to keep themselves in the tournament. They failed to find a breakthrough, though, with substitute Romelu Lukaku missing gilt-edged chances in a frustrating goalless draw.
“Cant believe Belgium favs booed Hazard, he was their ‘golden era’,” wrote one fan on Twitter. “Hazard getting booed by Belgium fans, so naturally I want him to score the winner,” was the verdict from another.
However, there was a little bit of confusion. Others believed that, rather than Hazard himself, the subject of the boos was Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, amid allegations of time-wasting from the stopper.
Hazard only had three minutes plus stoppage time to make an impact after replacing Thomas Meunier for the closing stages. Belgium had chances as they chased a victory which would have also eliminated Croatia, but they ultimately ran out of time.
“It’s not easy to win games in the World Cup,” manager Roberto Martinez told The BBC after his team’s exit was confirmed. “We weren’t ourselves in [the] first game [and[ we had a deserved defeat in [the] second game.
“Today we were ready, we created opportunities and today there is no regrets. We’re out but we can leave with our heads held high.
“You see Youri Tielemans and other young players – the golden generation is doing something that is bringing the next generation on. It’s not what names are on the pitch the legacy can be left in many ways.”
A number of members of Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ are in their thirties, and this may well be the last World Cup for the stars who were one game from the final in 2018. Kevin De Bruyne suggested the squad was too old, prompting criticism from some quarters.
“When you have some of your best players coming in and saying, ‘we have no chance at this World Cup, the squad is too old’, it will affect the mentality of this group,” De Bruyne’s former Manchester City team-mate Pablo Zabaleta told BBC Sport earlier in the group stages. There’s no passion, no fire.”
“It’s really sad to see that group of players not fighting for their country. My big concern about Belgium is the players saying we’re not the team we used to be. That’s not the mentality you bring into the World Cup.”
Source:The Mirror