Belgium finally lived up to the hype for their ‘golden generation’

It’s a tricky gig, being a World Cup Dark Horse. There’s a lot to balance.

A team has to be dangerous, but cannot be overwhelmingly favoured. They must be interesting without being too obvious. They have to make a splash in the tournament: purr through the groups, perhaps, or knock out somebody big. But they probably shouldn’t win the thing. That would just be embarrassing.

So, props to Belgium. They absolutely nailed it.

The idea that this generation of Belgian players might constitute A Thing has been floating around for a while now, ever since the simultaneous emergence of some brilliant attackers, a few crafty midfielders, and a plethora of elegant-but-respectably-hard central defenders. That they couldn’t find any full-backs was a minor problem; that they were managed by the eternally underwhelming Marc Wilmots a far greater one.

But Wilmots left after Belgium were destroyed by Wales in 2016, and things really came together with the appointment of Roberto Martinez. For Martinez is that rare thing in modern football: a coach of principles. Two principles, to be precise. One, attacking football is the best and most righteous way. And two, literally any footballer walking this green earth can, with the right encouragement, play as a wing-back.

Fortified by these ideological pillars, Belgium came to Russia and finally became something like the Belgium we’d all assumed they could be. And the tournament was much the better for it. After looking fun in the group stages, it was the back-to-back wins against Japan and Brazil that really confirmed this campaign as some dark horseplay for the ages.

Taken together, those two games form an interesting pair. (A Dark Horse is Favoured / A Dark Horse is not Favoured, the new double album from Billy Corgan.) Against Japan, with the odds on their side, Belgium wobbled hard. All truly interesting teams have a bit of fragility about them, the capacity for collapse, and here the cracks began to open up. Only the simple fact of having Kevin de Bruyne’s feet and brain, along with Marouane Fellaini’s head and neck, saw them through. A test, overcome.

Then against Brazil, they delivered a masterclass in dark horsing around, one that will be studied for years to come in colleges of shady equestrianism. Most of the teams at the World Cup would, if thrown up against Brazil in a quarter-final, have played it safe. Sit deep, hope to squeak out a draw, and pass the time by taking turns to kick Neymar. Switzerland managed it, after all, and Costa Rica nearly did as well.

Belgium could have attempted the same. But that would be contrary to Martinez’s first principle, and would also amount to a betrayal of this frankly delicious squad. So instead, they went for the win, a simple three-step process. Turn up with a clever plan involving Nacer Chadli, get that clever plan executed, and then cling on for dear life until the final whistle . Tick, tick, and — just about — tick again.

It seems to be an ironclad law of the men’s World Cup that the dark horses and the interesting outsiders never actually go on to win the thing. This is a competition that’s been held on 20 previous occasions over nearly 100 years, yet only nine teams have lifted the trophy. And it’ll be a surprise if the 21st doesn’t end up going to France, who looked extremely ominous in their semi-final and have already won it once.

But no matter. The really cool kids end their adventures just before the administrative headache of victory, preferring to go and have fun in the third/fourth play-off. Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands won theirs in 2014, Davor Suker’s Croatia did the same in 1998, and Poland’s best ever team came in third in 1974.

Admittedly, Hristo Stoichkov’s Bulgaria didn’t really get into the spirit of things in 1994, losing 4-0 then claiming that they were too tired and that the game should never have taken place. But eight years later, the two weirdest teams of 2002 — South Korea and Turkey — shared five goals and sent everybody home happy.

And you’d imagine the play-off, which can either be a carefree exhibition or a gross inconvenience, depending on mood, will be just the right occasion for some top quality Martinezing. Romelu Lukaku still has a Golden Boot to win. It’s time to bring back the 2-3-5.

In the final balance, while they may be out of the competition, they’ll be remembered. For making it a better time for everybody (bar Japan). For making Neymar look really sad on TV. And for at last making something special out of a special group of players. Not the trophy they were after, but never mind. Memory is the true currency of football, and Belgium’s World Cup was a rich one.