Belgium crash out

Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said his team would leave the World Cup with their “heads held high” despite being dumped out in the group stage after a goalless draw with Croatia on Thursday.

The world’s second-ranked side were left to rue a series of missed gilt-edged chances by Romelu Lukaku in the second half as they went out after scoring only one goal in three Group F matches.

“Today we were ready, we created opportunities and today there is no regrets,” said Martinez. “We’re out but we can leave with our heads held high.

“You see Youri Tielemans and other young players — the golden generation is doing something that is bringing the next generation on. It’s not what names are on the pitch. The legacy can be left in many ways.”

Belgium finished third in their group behind Croatia and Morocco who backed up their 2-0 win over Belgium by beating Canada 2-1.

“We wanted to get through but I’m sure the other national teams wanted to get through and that’s the tournament,” added Martinez. “In the previous World Cup we won three games in the group stage. We wanted to go all the way.”

Lukaku was not fit enough to start any of the games and Belgium were reliant on several ageing stars who could not produce their best form.

Croatia captain Luka Modric said he was overjoyed to reach the knockouts. “We are overjoyed that we are in the round of 16,” Modric said. “We deserved that with the game we played. We lived through some very difficult moments as we were playing against a great team.”

“We have achieved the first goal, now let’s move on. Today we showed that we are a top team, that we can play against anyone, and whoever comes next, it will not be easy against us.”

Belgium coach Roberto Martinez also informed that it was his last match in charge of the Red Devils. The 49-year-old had been in charge since 2016 and his contract was due to run out after the tournament.

“That was my last game with the national team, I can’t carry on. It’s the time for me to accept that this is the last game. That was the end, whatever would happen, whether we were world champions, whether we went out in the group stage,” he said. “It’s got nothing to do with being eliminated in the group stage.

“Today, if we would’ve gone through I think we would’ve seen the real Belgium and we could’ve been very competitive in the next rounds,” insisted Martinez. “The disappointment was against Morocco. Today we were ourselves, we played a very good opposition… The first two games we weren’t ourselves.”