Belgium hold players’ meeting after poor start to World Cup

DOHA: Belgium’s squad held a meeting where players aired their “honest” views about how the team can salvage their World Cup campaign, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said Tuesday. Belgium arrived in Qatar as the No. 2-ranked team and one of the tournament favorites, but were unconvincing in a 1-0 win over Canada before losing to Morocco 2-0 on Sunday.

The team need to beat Croatia in their final group game on Thursday to guarantee advancing to the last 16. Courtois and Belgium captain Eden Hazard played down reports of infighting in the squad that surfaced after the Morocco game. Courtois did say, however, he and his teammates had a frank exchange of views at their training base in Al Rayyan on Monday.

“I did not feel like there were issues, but it is always good to have a meeting all together so everybody can share their thoughts,” the Real Madrid goalkeeper said Tuesday. “This way, everything is sorted and I think that the best thing we can do is to be honest, because on the pitch we have to fight for each other. So being honest is the most important thing.” There has been plenty of focus on a seemingly off-the-cuff comment by Kevin De Bruyne, the star of the team, in a pre-tournament interview with British newspaper The Guardian.

In it, De Bruyne was asked if Belgium can win the World Cup and he was quoted as saying: “No chance, we’re too old.” Against Canada, Belgium had six players in their 30s in the starting lineup, with four of them having accrued more than 100 international appearances. One of them is Jan Vertonghen, who appeared to make a reference to De Bruyne’s remark when speaking after the loss to Morocco. “Where did it go wrong?” Vertonghen said.