Five players from the Belgium squad have flown home separately after their disastrous World Cup campaign.
Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ has come to an abrupt end, crashing and burning out of the tournament in the group stages. Despite winning their first game against Canada 1-0, rumours began to emerge from the camp about unrest between senior players. After a painful draw with Croatia and then a humiliating defeat to Morocco, the atmosphere in the dressing room became more volatile.
Belgium, the No. 2 ranked men’s team in the world, are OUT of the World Cup 😳 pic.twitter.com/MkibzrjxwM
— ESPN (@espn) December 1, 2022
In a bizarre instance, star player Kevin De Bruyne claimed that the team were ‘too old’ to win the World Cup. Jan Vertonghen was quick to reply to this unneccesary criticism.
Yesterday, Kevin De Bruyne said that Belgium are ‘too old’ to win the World Cup.
This is what Jan Vertonghen had to say after Morocco held them scoreless in a 2-0 win today 😳 pic.twitter.com/4CLHh9oql6
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 27, 2022
According to Het Laatste Nieuws, a number of players have decided not to travel home with the rest of the squad but instead book their own indivdual flights. These players have been named as Axel Witsel, Thomas Meunier, Lois Openda, Arthur Theate and Jeremy Doku.
For a lot of these players this will be their last World Cup together, what a way to go out.
Oh dear .. it all ends in tears when somebody loses their teddy bear