Croatia 0 – 0 Belgium

Romelu Lukaku hit a post and missed a string of chances as Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ were knocked out of the World Cup, with their 0-0 draw with Croatia sending the 2018 runners-up into the last 16 with Group F winners Morocco.

Roberto Martinez’s side finished third four years ago and led the world rankings until recently but his ageing squad were well off the pace in Qatar and, despite an improvement in the second half which led to a series of openings for Lukaku, they couldn’t come up with the win they needed due to Morocco’s victory over Canada.

Half-time sub Lukaku shot against the inside of the post when the goal was gaping, headed over from a Kevin De Bruyne cross, flicked wide from close range, chested the ball to the goalkeeper from inside the six-yard box and was beaten to a loose ball by Josko Gvardiol from a similar distance.

At full-time, Belgium’s record scorer broke down in the arms of coach Thierry Henry and then punched a panel out of the dugout in frustration – but his team-mates had once again been below par themselves, with only an extremely tight – and reviewed – offside call denying Croatia a penalty in the opening 45 and Thibaut Courtois made to work in the second period.

Amid speculation about unrest in the Belgian camp following their 2-0 humbling by Morocco in their previous group game, Martinez had dropped captain Eden Hazard but there was no addition to the team’s solitary goal in this group phase.

With 15 of their 26 players at this tournament aged 29 or over, this gifted group of Belgian footballers may well have missed their moment to get their hands on silverware.

Croatia will need to improve considerably themselves if they are to replicate their run to the final in Russia but they are at least still in the mix, with a last-16 tie against the winner of Group E, where Spain lead the way.

How it went wrong for Belgium…

Belgium’s starting line-up was the oldest seen so far at the World Cup – 31 years and 95 days – and they were slow out of the blocks, with Ivan Perisic racing down the left and shooting wide with just 10 seconds on the clock.

News of Hakim Ziyech’s opener for Morocco against Canada ramped up the requirement for Belgium to win but, aside from a shot from Yannick Carrasco and a miscue from Dries Mertens, there was no wave of pressure created by the Red Devils in the first half.

Instead they were fortunate to survive a penalty award, with VAR eventually advising ref Anthony Taylor to check an extremely tight offside call at the pitchside monitor after Carrasco had caught Andrej Kramaric. The shirt sleeve of Dejan Lovren was judged to be millimetres ahead of Jan Vertonghen’s.

In need of a game-changer, Martinez sent on Lukaku, who had scored 28 goals in his previous 28 appearances. But rather than be the match winner, the striker would endure a performance which will be long remembered for the wrong reasons.

He showed his threat almost instantly, recording the first shot on target of the match with a header and teed up De Bruyne to shoot wide. But after a good phase for Croatia, which saw Courtois, on his 100th appearance, tip over a rasping drive from Mateo Kovacic and get down low to keep out efforts from Marcelo Brozovic and Luka Modric, the chances came and then went for Lukaku.

On the hour mark he hit a post with the goal at his mercy after Carrasco’s shot was parried. Three minutes later he headed over from a De Bruyne cross, when the ball may have already rolled out of play. Two bad misses – but it got a lot worse from the 87th minute onwards.

He deflected Thomas Meunier’s cross-shot wide. Moments later he chested the ball to goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic with an open goal ahead of him. And, just to rub salt into the wounds, he was beaten to the ball by Gvardiol when he looked set to prod home two minutes into stoppage time.

End of an era? It felt like it at full-time. Croatia will hope the story of their own experienced squad has a few more chapters to go…

Lukaku’s game to forget

Sky Sports’ Adam Bate:

“There cannot be many more miserable performances in front of goal in World Cup history than the one that Romelu Lukaku just put in. He is devastated. Four clear chances. One was a ricochet that required some luck, another may have been disallowed anyway because the cross appeared to have gone out of play, but the first and the last chance were the ones.

“He surely scores them if he were fit and flying. This Belgium team would not have gone much further in this tournament anyway given how disjointed they have looked but that will be of no comfort to Lukaku right now.”

Where next for Belgium?

Sky Sports’ Ben Grounds:

“It is Croatia who continue their World Cup journey and you have to say Belgium have got what they deserved. They were unconvincing against Canada and thoroughly beaten by Morocco.

“They’ve not been good enough. The experience of this Croatian side and the quality throughout the team has got them over the line.

“De Bruyne, hands on hips, is distraught. The team ranked second in the world and who came third at the last World Cup, are out.”

What does the result mean?

Croatia progress to the last 16 of the World Cup along with Group F winners Morocco, who beat already-eliminated Canada 2-1. Belgium are knocked out of the World Cup, finishing third a point behind Croatia.

Opta stats – the sorry stats for ageing Belgium

• Belgium have failed to progress to the knockout stages of a World Cup tournament for the first time since 1998.
• Belgium scored one goal at this World Cup – in 19 previous participations at major tournaments (World Cup + Euros), they have only scored fewer goals once (1930 World Cup – 0).
• Belgium have failed to score in consecutive World Cup matches for first time since 1982 against Poland and USSR.
• Belgium have won just one of their last five games in all competitions (D1 L3), while this was their first goalless draw since June 2018 against Portugal, playing 61 matches in between.
• Belgium named a starting XI with an average age of 31 years and 95 days for this match, the oldest for any side at the World Cup since Australia vs Germany in 2010 (31 years, 118 days).
• Thibaut Courtois made his 100th international appearance in this match, becoming the first goalkeeper to do so for Belgium’s men’s team, and the seventh player overall after Jan Vertonghen, Axel Witsel, Toby Alderweireld, Eden Hazard, Dries Mertens and Romelu Lukaku.