Belgian media critical after ‘bitter defeat’ against Orange: ‘Fortunately we have Remco Evenepoel’ | Dutch football

,,Even without Depay and De Jong, the Orange squad beat us again. Courtois even had to save Belgium three times in the final quarter from a bigger defeat – again it was not his fault. Nor to De Bruyne. Those are certainties,” writes The last news.

Many other players could not convince, according to the newspaper. ,,It was not a nice Derby der Lage Landen. Football without conviction and, moreover, a highly unnecessary loss after a header by Van Dijk. There is only more despair in the minds of our Red Devils. A major letdown with the World Cup in prospect. It takes a miracle to play a role in Qatar.”

,,After this match, the negativity predominates. Another prestige battle with Orange lost. There is no question of revenge after that shameful 1-4 defeat in June.” The Belgian sports enthusiast can therefore better focus on cycling for the time being, the newspaper refers to last weekend’s World Cup in Australia. “Fortunately, we still have Remco Evenepoel.”

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It was the fifth time in a row that Belgium lost to a top country. In addition to the defeats against the Netherlands, the number two in the FIFA world ranking also fell twice against Italy and France was also too strong. In addition, for the first time in 49 games, no goals were scored.

“It could be a coincidence, but the finding less than two months before the World Cup is not the most pleasant to make,” he said. The standard. “Against Wales it turned out that Belgium (2-1 win, ed) cannot do without Kevin De Bruyne, the 129th Derby of the Low Countries shows that Romelu Lukaku is also indispensable for these Devils until further notice.” The striker was missing against Orange due to an injury.

sporza speaks of a ‘particularly bitter defeat’, as the match appeared to be heading for a bloodless 0-0. ,,But those are precisely the moments when world champions strike. About fifteen minutes before the end, the Netherlands received a corner. Captain Van Dijk, covered by Debast, got rid of his young attacker and headed in unstoppably. 1-0, against the ratio.”

After that, the Belgians were lucky that the damage did not increase further. Courtois made three world class saves, without him the defeat would have been even worse and now we were even still in sight of a draw. La Dernière Heure. ,,But Lukebakio was unlucky that his bicycle kick exploded at the intersection in stoppage time.”

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In addition to the criticism of their own team, Orange also made little impression on the Belgian news. ,,The Netherlands played very conservatively”, thinks The newspapaer. ,,Belgium forced more opportunities, but forgot to take advantage of them and eventually ran into the Dutch knife.

The last news thinks that the Belgian selection still houses more quality than that of Orange. ,,Without convincing themselves, the Devils still radiated much more ingenuity than the opponent. Although that rarely translated into exciting football.”

According to The standard that was also because the Netherlands knew that a draw or small loss would be enough to reach the Final Four of the Nations League. ,,In contrast to the match in Brussels, it was not necessary for the Orange. Yes, it played its ‘goodbye match’ in a packed Johan Cruijff Arena – complete with a sound and light show and stadium DJ – Louis van Gaal was much more interested in maintaining his undefeated status since his return than Belgium was a new suit for the pants.”