The End of a 'Golden Generation'

Ah, we are witnessing a great decline, and it is quite a sad thing. I am rooting for Belgium in this WorldCup, but my support looks misplaced. Four years ago, Belgium was a star-studded generation. They had superstars in every department on the pitch. The whole of the Belgium team was playing at the highest level at club level. They took third place in the last world cup. The highest they have reached. They were so good, they were labeled "the golden generation". But, the match today against Canada has shown they are nowhere near the level they were at last time out.

Key Factors

First off, the defense is absolutely shambolic. Today, they were just all over the place. Scrappy defending, last-ditch defending, etc. was the order of the day. It was obvious age has done a number on them. The legs are no longer there. Jan Vertonghan is 35, Toby Aderweireld is 33 and Dendoncker is 27. Not much youth there. Canada exposed them with their pace and hunger. They were so unlucky not to get anything out of the game.
The Eden Hazard decline is one of the most talked about things in football of recent times. The Belgian was an absolute monster at the last world cup. He put up one of the best world cup performances against Brazil in the quarter-final. After his big-money move to Real Madrid, things started to fall apart. With very little playtime, the whole creative responsibility falls on Kevin De Bruyne.
90% of the squad are above 27 years of age. You wouldn't expect these lads to run the whole pitch in full flight.
Batshuayi is not going to lead this team to glory. He looked so out of place today. His goal was the only positive thing he did today, and full credit to him, but he does not look like a striker you can depend on to win your games.

It breaks my heart to see them play this badly, but I have to come to terms with reality. The era of Belgium being world beaters is over, and I don't see future superstars coming up.