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After a scoreless draw, Croatia advances to the round of 16 and Belgium is eliminated from the World Cup.
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World Cup 2022 – Croatia 0-0 Belgium: Romelu Lukaku misses big chances as Roberto Martinez’s ‘golden generation’ knocked out and Croatia reach last 16.
Following a disappointing 0-0 draw against Croatia on Thursday, Belgium was eliminated from the World Cup.
Roberto Martinez’s side needed a win against the 2018 World Cup finalists to progress past the group stage, but they were unable to find the back of the net.
Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ were knocked out of the World Cup as a 0-0 draw with Croatia sent the 2018 runners-up into the last 16 with Group F winners Morocco. Romelu Lukaku hit a post and missed a number of opportunities.
In third place four years ago and number two in the world rankings until recently, Roberto Martinez’s team struggled to keep up in Qatar. Despite a second-half improvement that gave Romelu Lukaku several scoring opportunities, they were unable to secure the victory they required as Morocco defeated Canada.
Captain Eden Hazard was dropped for the start of the match, and Romelu Lukaku came on to miss four big chances as Belgium’s World Cup journey came to a disappointing end.
Croatia advances to the round of 16, but only after finishing in second place in the group behind Morocco, which defeated Canada 2-1 to take the first position.
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Ivan Perisic’s attempt went over the crossbar in the first 20 seconds as Croatia took control from the opening whistle.
After 14 minutes, Belgium immediately counterattacked, but Dries Mertens was unable to reach the goal following a superb through ball from Kevin de Bruyne.
After less than a minute, Yannick Carrasco was found to have fouled Andrej Kramaric inside the penalty area, earning Croatia a penalty.
Referee Anthony Taylor was sent to the monitor by the VAR as Luka Modric was getting ready to take the penalty kick, and the decision was reversed for an offside throughout the buildup.
The rest of the half turned out to be a tense affair, but the game came to life after the break.
Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was called into action early on and prevented Croatia on three separate occasions.
Lukaku was brought on in the second half, and the Inter Milan striker missed two big chances in quick succession.
Lukaku was the quickest to react to a rebound just after the hour mark, and he was able to hit the post from close range with the goalie out of position.
With the goal at his disposal, the striker then headed another easy attempt over the bar.
The striker continued to miss two additional open goals as Croatia held off late attempts from Belgium. Lukaku’s night was not good.