Everyone deserves to go far in this World Cup
For twelve years, Belgium assembled one of football's most gifted generations — Courtois, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Witsel — and carried with them the quiet hope of a small nation dreaming large. In the 88th minute of a 2026 World Cup quarter-final, a young goalkeeper's fumble handed Spain the winning goal and closed what may be the final chapter of that era. Belgium exits not in disgrace, but in the particular sorrow reserved for greatness that never quite found its moment — third-place finishes and semi-finals where a trophy might have been. The question they leave behind is one football asks of every gifted generation: was the potential the story, or was the story always the unfulfilled potential?
- An 88th-minute goalkeeping error by Senne Lammens — a spilled shot turned home by Mikel Merino — extinguished Belgium's last realistic hope of a World Cup trophy in a 2-1 defeat to Spain.
- The loss carries weight far beyond a single match: Courtois, De Bruyne, Lukaku, and Witsel, the pillars of Belgian football since 2014, are likely playing their final tournament together, departing without a major title.
- Belgium's golden generation accumulated remarkable milestones — a 2018 semi-final, three consecutive quarter-finals, a peak FIFA world ranking of first — yet the trophy cabinet remains empty, fuelling a debate about whether talent alone defines legacy.
- Manager Rudi Garcia had hoped to give his veterans one last run at glory, and a 4-1 demolition of the United States in the last 16 briefly made that dream feel possible before Spain's quality and Belgium's errors ended it.
- Younger talents like Charles de Ketelaere, Jeremy Doku, and Youri Tielemans offered glimpses of a future that does not depend on the departing generation, though that consolation felt distant in the immediate aftermath of defeat.
The moment that ended Belgium's World Cup arrived with cruel precision. In the 88th minute, goalkeeper Senne Lammens — standing in for the injured Thibaut Courtois — let a Spanish shot slip through his hands, and Mikel Merino was there to finish. Spain won 2-1. More than a quarter-final was lost.
Since Brazil 2014, Belgium had built something rare: a generation of genuinely world-class players — Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Axel Witsel, Eden Hazard — who made a nation of fewer than 12 million people believe a trophy was possible. They reached the 2018 semi-finals, finished third, topped groups, and climbed to number one in the world rankings. Then Qatar 2022 arrived and they crashed out in the group stage, leaving the question of whether the window had already closed.
In 2026, with several veterans still in the squad alongside a younger cohort, Belgium beat the United States 4-1 in the last 16 and allowed themselves one more moment of belief. Spain ended it. Lammens' error was the symbol, but the broader story was of a team that gave their opponents too many chances and paid the price.
Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague offered a pointed observation: to be called a golden generation, you have to win gold. Belgium never did. Others argued that for a country of Belgium's size, reaching a semi-final and multiple quarter-finals was achievement enough — that demanding a trophy was demanding the unreasonable.
Manager Rudi Garcia spoke of wanting to give his veterans one last hurrah. It didn't come. But in De Ketelaere's three tournament goals, in Doku's electric presence, in Tielemans' composure, there were signs that Belgian football's next chapter is already being written — even if the golden one closed without the ending its authors had imagined.
The moment came in the 88th minute, with Belgium's World Cup dream hanging by a thread. Senne Lammens, the 24-year-old goalkeeper filling in for the injured Thibaut Courtois, watched a Spanish shot come toward him and let it slip through his hands. Mikel Merino was there to finish the rebound. Spain won 2-1, and with that error, Belgium's quarter-final ended. More than that, it likely ended something larger: the final chapter of a generation that had defined Belgian football for twelve years.
Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne, and Axel Witsel had been the spine of the national team since Brazil 2014. They were joined by others—Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Mousa Dembele—players who looked, in their prime, like they could win anything. Belgium topped their group in 2014 and reached the quarter-finals. In 2018, they went further still, making the semi-finals and finishing third. They reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 and Euro 2020. And then, in Qatar in 2022, it all fell apart. They crashed out in the group stage.
Now, in 2026, with most of that original cohort still in the squad—Leandro Trossard at 31, Brandon Mechele at 33, Timothy Castagne at 33, Hans Vanaken at 33, Thomas Meunier at 34—they had one more chance. They beat the United States 4-1 in the last 16, a result that suggested maybe, just maybe, there was one more run left in them. But Spain was waiting, and Lammens' hands betrayed them.
The question that now hangs over Belgian football is whether a generation this talented should have won more. Guillem Balague, a Spanish football journalist, offered a counterpoint: to be called a golden generation, you have to win gold. Belgium never did. They were third once, reached a final four once, but never lifted a trophy. For a nation of less than 12 million people, was that realistic? Balague suggested it wasn't—that England, Italy, and Spain had resources and depth Belgium simply didn't match. "To demand Belgium to win," he said, "is maybe a little bit too much."
Manager Rudi Garcia, speaking after the loss, sounded like a man who had watched something slip away. "I took a team that I wanted to take as far as possible," he said. "My veteran players, who are maybe on their way out, that they could have one last hurrah. It is a shame because I think everyone deserves to go far in this World Cup." The younger players—13 squad members were 25 or under—had shown promise. Charles de Ketelaere, who managed only three goals in 31 games for his club, scored three times at the tournament. Youri Tielemans, at 29 still relatively young, had scored twice in a remarkable comeback against Senegal. Jeremy Doku, at 24, carried the weight of elite talent, though he hadn't quite found his form.
But the future, however bright, was cold comfort now. The golden generation was leaving not with a trophy, not even with a deep run, but with an error by a young goalkeeper in the 88th minute of a quarter-final. Garcia tried to frame it differently: "We can be proud of our World Cup stint. We learn through defeat." But there was no hiding the fact that Belgium had given Spain chances, had made mistakes, and had paid for them. The old guard was going home. The new one would have to learn from this.
Notable Quotes
To be a golden generation you have to win some gold and then you can be called that.— Guillem Balague, Spanish football journalist
My veteran players, who are maybe on their way out, that they could have one last hurrah. It is a shame because I think everyone deserves to go far in this World Cup.— Rudi Garcia, Belgium manager
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a goalkeeper's mistake in the 88th minute feel like it means something larger than just that moment?
Because it happened to the wrong person at the wrong time. Lammens is 24—he's part of the future. Courtois, who would have been in goal, is part of the past that's now ending. The error feels symbolic because it is. The old guard couldn't even finish their last tournament with their own hands on the ball.
But Belgium did reach a semi-final in 2018. They've had success. Why is this loss being framed as a failure?
Because they never won anything. A semi-final is good, but for a generation with Lukaku, De Bruyne, Hazard, Kompany—players who were world-class—it feels incomplete. The gap between how good they were and what they achieved is what haunts it.
Is that fair to them, though? Balague suggested Belgium shouldn't be expected to win major tournaments.
It's fair and unfair at once. Belgium is small. But they also had an unusually concentrated period of elite talent. That combination—scarcity of resources, abundance of individual brilliance—creates a particular kind of disappointment. They weren't supposed to win everything. But they were supposed to win something.
What about the younger players? De Ketelaere scored three goals. Tielemans won them a game. Doesn't that suggest the future is secure?
It does. But it also highlights what just ended. Those young players are learning. The old ones were supposed to be teaching them how to win. Instead, they're leaving with a lesson in how to fall short.
Garcia said they should be proud. Do you think they will be?
Some will be. But pride and regret aren't mutually exclusive. You can be proud of reaching a quarter-final and still feel the weight of what might have been. That's what golden generations carry—not just what they did, but what they didn't.