Rudi Garcia: “We have looked Spain in the eyes, we showed that we were a great team”

Belgium’s soccer coach, Rudi Garcia, stressed that they showed this Friday that they were “a great team” in the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, and that despite losing 2-1 in the quarterfinals against Spain, they looked “in the eyes” and made the European champion “doubt.”

“Between Youri’s (Tielemans) loss, Thibaut’s (Courtois) injury and Kevin (De Bruyne) not being able to go where he wanted, the conditions were not ideal to achieve a good result. Even so, we were very close to extra time and we looked into Spain’s eyes, they hesitated, especially when we tied,” Rudi Garcia assured the ‘RTBF’ network after the match.

The ‘Red Devils’ coach tried to make light of the mistake made by goalkeeper Senne Lammens, substitute for the injured Courtois, in the Spanish winning goal and that “it is part of high-level sport”, so he asked to “support the players who made small mistakes.” “But we know that those small mistakes can cost us the result. This match, and these mistakes, should serve as a lesson for the younger players, who need to be more pragmatic,” he warned.

Garcia, who complained about what he considered “a flagrant handball” by Rodri Hernández in the second half, referred to Courtois’ change, emphasizing that “since the start of the World Cup” he has always decided to “play with 100% players.” “And the same thing has happened with Thibaut, we didn’t want him to aggravate his injury,” he said.

“We will talk to Thibaut; he has not yet spoken to anyone about it. The most important thing tonight is that he could not finish the game. He is a great goalkeeper and losing him during the match was a hard blow. With age, you have to continue giving one hundred percent, with him, we are a very strong team,” he added in response to the possibility that the Real Madrid goalkeeper advanced of not playing for his country again if it does not look good that he can initially take a year off.

The Frenchman believes that they could have “tied” at the end and celebrated that his team had “learned to suffer and defend.” “That was one of the problems before my arrival. The players executed the game plan that I indicated to them perfectly and I think Spain was a bit lucky. We suffered too many setbacks in this match, but I am proud of my players,” he continued.

The Belgium coach made it clear that they had “nothing” to be ashamed of. “We grow and we also learn from defeat. We were there and I hope we have given Belgium something to dream about. When I started this adventure with the ‘Red Devils’, I wanted all Belgians to support their nation and I think that goal has been achieved,” he stressed.

“I am proud of my players, we showed that we were a great team in this World Cup. We saw the images of the fan zones in Belgium after the game against the United States and it was gratifying. I expected 12 million fans to support us, I think we had that support, we must continue like this,” said Garcia.