Beaten 2-1 Friday in the quarter-finals of Euro football, Belgium will not yet win a title this year.

Often cited among the favorites of the last major football competitions, the Belgian selection struggles to confirm in the field.

Europe 1 takes stock of what is lacking in this "golden generation".

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Still missed!

Euro football 2020 will not be the first won by the Red Devils.

Coach Roberto Martinez's men lost 2-1 on Friday in the quarter-finals of the competition against Italy and once again saw their hopes of winning a major title slip away.

Because in addition to never having won a Euro, the Belgian selection does not have a World Cup in its window, although it is first in the FIFA rankings.

And even to find an Olympic title, you have to go back… to 1920. Europe 1 explores the reasons for this new failure.

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A team with a defensive problem

By not reaching the last four of Euro 2020, Belgium stopped at the same stage as at Euro 2016. Far from its best performance in this competition in 1980, where it had finished second. Friday night on Europe 1, journalist Bruno Ahoyo explained this failure in part by the aging defense of this team, targeting in particular the match of defender Jan Vertonghen. "For many players, this may be the last selection," he said.

According to him, the "mobility problems" of midfielders Youri Tielemans and Axel Witsel did not allow a solid defensive either.

Bruno Ahoyo has also emphasized the "real problem of side" of Belgium.

According to him, the presence in the group of the side Timothy Castagne therefore appeared to be a "miracle".

But he suffered six fractures to his face in the first group match against Russia (3-0 victory), depriving him of the rest of the competition.

A selection that must play better together

To compensate for its defensive deficiencies, Belgium can certainly count on the talent of its playing master of Manchester City, Kevin De Bruyne. Or on his prolific striker Romelu Lukaku (four goals during this Euro). But the players of this generation, many described as "golden", have nevertheless "missed a little" from the big events so far, said journalist Laurent Jaoui on Europe 1.

"You can have all the talents in the world, if you don't get them to play as a team, it won't work," he said.

The handover between the former coach Marc Wilmots and the current one, Roberto Martinez, in 2016 does not seem to have changed much.

Even if 2018 could have been the enchanting parenthesis, without this painful elimination against France in the semifinals in a hotly contested match (1-0 defeat of Belgium).

"Belgium, although we lived in Russia in 2018, (...) we do not have the vocation to be one of the best teams in the world", regretted Bruno Ahoyo.

A lack of questioning?

Some could also suggest that the repeated Belgian failures stem from a lack of questioning of the Belgian players. In 2018, after the semi-final lost against France, the reactions of the Belgian players could give the impression of bad losers struggling to question themselves. "I would not say that the team opposite was better than us," said Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, before returning to his comments. With the new disappointment of this year, there is no doubt that the questions will now be very present in the minds.