Roberto Martínez has introduced his departure as Belgium’s head trainer after their group-stage go out on the World Cup. Belgium’s failure to overcome Croatia of their ultimate Group F fit led Martínez to verify his go out after greater than six years in rate.
Martínez insisted he used to be pleased with his legacy in spite of his failure to reach with the so-called golden technology, with Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne a few of the avid gamers who would possibly by no means go back to this level.
Romelu Lukaku ignored a chain of probabilities to earn victory and a spot within the remaining 16, together with a obtrusive alternative in second-half stoppage time. Martínez guided Belgium to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, the place they had been defeated via the eventual winners, France. Despite a profitable get started in opposition to Canada in Qatar, a surprise defeat via Morocco and a goalless draw in opposition to Croatia resulted in Belgium’s humbling go out.
Martínez hugged his avid gamers after the overall whistle in Doha. “That was my last game with the national team and it’s as emotional as you can imagine,” he stated. “It was going to be the end whether we were world champions or out in the group stage. It has nothing to do with being eliminated at this stage. This is the time for me to accept that this day is the last game.
Quick Guide
Qatar: beyond the football
show
This is a World Cup like no other. For the last 12 years the Guardian has been reporting on the issues surrounding Qatar 2022, from corruption and human rights abuses to the treatment of migrant workers and discriminatory laws. The best of our journalism is gathered on our dedicated Qatar: Beyond the Football home page for those who want to go deeper into the issues beyond the pitch.
Guardian reporting goes far beyond what happens on the pitch. Support our investigative journalism today.
Asked to clarify when he made his decision, Martínez said: “I took the decision just before the World Cup. I always work in the long term. I believe the long term projects need to be long term and they need to be set in advance. As you can imagine, since 2018 I have had many opportunities to leave and take jobs at club level. I always wanted to be loyal, I always wanted to finish the job and now I don’t resign, this is the end of my contract. This was always the plan.
Martínez said the defeat by Morocco was behind their downfall. “When you come to the World Cup, you have to play three games and we only played one,” he said. “The first two games, we were fearful, we were not the team that we are, we listened to the noise on the outside and we were feeling the responsibility.
“We played thinking that we could lose the game and that we could be out and that’s what cost us progressing. If we had gone through, I think we would have seen the real Belgium and we could have been very competitive.”
