After playing Croatia to a scoreless draw at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Thursday, Belgium was eliminated from the World Cup in the group round. Belgium needed to win in order to move to the round of 16, while Croatia needed to avoid losing, thanks to Morocco's 2-1 victory against Canada in another Group F match.
A far more exciting second half followed a poor first half in which the only noteworthy event was a Croatian penalty that was later reversed. Romelu Lukaku was introduced at halftime and squandered a few excellent opportunities, hitting the post from one of them, but the game ended scoreless and Belgium was eliminated unexpectedly.
When a penalty granted for Yannick Carrasco's challenge on Andrej Kramaric was overruled for offside against Dejan Lovren during the buildup as Luka Modric was lining up to take it, Belgium had an early reprieve.
When Lukaku entered the game, it began to pick up steam, and less than three minutes after his introduction, the Inter striker forced Dominik Livakovic to make the game's first save. As a result, Croatia came alive, and Thibaut Courtois, who was earning his 100th cap, stopped Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic, and Luka Modric three times in the span of four minutes.
After Carrasco's blocked shot went perfectly into his path, Lukaku first hit the post with plenty of space to shoot, then headed over from close range with the goal once again wide open — though VAR may have intervened even if he had scored.
The worst blunder was yet to come as Thorgan Hazard's cross was missed by Lovren and Lukaku failed to head the ball over the goal line from a few yards away, eliminating Belgium and giving Croatia the victory over Morocco.
WHY DOES THAT MATTER? IS THE "GOLDEN GENERATION'S" JOURNEY TO AN END?
Belgium struggled in their first two matches in Qatar, winning 1-0 against Canada and losing 2-0 to Morocco. Despite playing much better against Croatia, the world's second-ranked team was unable to score the winning goal.
Many members of the aging Red Devils team, which has been predicted to win numerous tournaments over the past ten years, have undoubtedly reached their breaking point because this is only the second time in eight tries that they have failed to advance past the group stage.
LUKAKU ENCAPSULATES BELGIUM'S DISPLEASURE
As he battled his way back to fitness, Lukaku played just 54 minutes in Belgium's opening two games, and it was obvious when he was introduced at halftime that he still lacked match sharpness.
The 29-year-old took five shots altogether, hitting the post and missing two further excellent opportunities. Meanwhile, Belgium fired 16 shots, their most in a World Cup group stage games since 1994 without scoring (25 against Saudi Arabia).
THE SIDE HOLD OF DALIC
Zlatko Dalic, Croatia's head coach, will just be happy to have advanced at the end of the game. Croatia would have preferred to find a winner to finish above Morocco and set up what should be a more favorable last-16 tie.
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