This is the first game of the 21st day of the World Cup.and then the United States against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Oh, who am I kidding.
Belgium have just beaten New Zealand 5-1 to secure top spot in Group G. and, at least in theory, an easier draw in the round of 16, but Rudi Garcia was clearly annoyed. In response to the first question at the brief post-match press conference, he adjusted the microphone to make his point heard.
“I really didn’t like what they were called former” he said, referring to an article in French-language Belgian newspaper La Libre that compared Kevin De Bruyne to a washed-up Hollywood actor after a poor performance against Iran in their previous match in Los Angeles.
“When you have players of that caliber in a country, you support them,” Garcia added, praising the performances of his “front four” of De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois and Leandro Trossard, who scored twice for New Zealand; Trossard’s opening goal was the first Belgium had scored in the tournament (after an own goal against Egypt) at the 45th attempt after more than 200 minutes of work.
Share
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the Belgium vs Senegal match in Seattle. In its own way, this is one of the most intriguing games of the last 32 matches, largely because it features two teams whose quality is not entirely clear.
Belgium, ranked 10th in the world rankings, have endured a painfully slow decline since their Golden Generation reached the semi-finals in 2018, but any team that includes Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Docou, Youri Tielemans, Thibaut Courtois and Leandro Trossard is certainly worthy of the boot.
Senegal (18th place) was one of the hipsters selected for the World Cup. They are the unofficial champions of Africa and a year ago they beat England beautifully in Nottingham. But they were drawn into a very difficult group and lost to France and Norway before beating Iraq to become one of the top third-placed teams.
The USA or Bosnia and Herzegovina are waiting for the 1/8 finals. Right here, right now, all four teams will be dreaming about their chances of reaching the quarterfinals.
Kick off 16:00 local time / 18:00 EST / 21:00 BST / 6:00 EST
Share