Opinion: Belgium justly paid the price of playing negative football

For teams like Belgium negative football is one of the most disgraceful paths to take

What dreamland Wales must be in at the moment! When Belgium outclassed Hungary 4-0 in the round of 16 with captain Eden Hazard enjoying arguably his best day on a football field, everyone, simply overawed by their brilliance, had tipped the Red Devils to lift the Euro crown.

No one could have ever thought that Wales, making their first appearance at a major tournament in 58 years, could even match the brilliance of this golden generation of Belgians and make it to the semi-finals.

Yet, this band of Welsh players surprised everyone. They never gave up and best of all, they never allowed any room for doubt to creep into their hearts.

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Even when they were stunned by Radja Nainggolan’s stinging effort in the opening 13 minutes, they got up, dusted themselves and continued their relentless drive forward. Their reward: a 3-1 thrashing of the world’s number two ranked side and a first-ever semi-final appearance at any major tournament they have participated in.

But while their progress is commendable and a great tale on its own, Belgium certainly played their part in allowing Wales to regain their confidence by playing the worst way a team could play football — negatively.

Nainggolan’s strike had given Belgium the reward for their bright start to the match. The Red Devils dominated their Welsh counterparts in every aspect of the match in the opening 10 minutes and got a goal to show for it. But instead of building on their advantage after the goal and really punishing Wales, these Belgian players, obviously directed by their manager Marc Wilmots, thought they could bank on this one-goal lead and see off the remainder of the match.

Thus they sat deep and allowed Wales a lot of time on the ball.

What they chose to ignore was the fact that this Welsh side was built on an unending thirst for glory and despite having been dazed by Belgium’s blow in the opening minutes, they grew in confidence over time and 17 minutes after conceding, they got the equaliser through Wales captain Ashley Williams.

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From that moment on till the referee blew the final whistle, it was Wales who dictated play. Where once Belgium was the orchestrator of the play in Lille, it was now Chris Coleman’s side which was pulling the strings.

Belgium certainly did try to wrestle back control and for a brief spell at the start of the second half, they even succeeded. But just as they were looking to grow in confidence, Hal Robson-Kanu received the ball near Thibaut Courtois’ goal, and with one swift turn managed to fend off three Belgian defenders all at once, leaving him with a clear chance to give Wales the lead.

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The stadium went in delirium. Both sets of supporters couldn’t believe what they saw but the Welsh did not care. They jumped up and down and sang their hearts out, while their Belgian counterparts couldn’t find the right emotion to deal with this setback.

The supporters had been hoping for a Belgian revival; they had been praying for it. This they had certainly not expected even in their wildest dreams.

But that all seemed irrelevant to the Welsh support; their team had gotten the lead they deserved. It was now they who had to fend off their opponents for the remainder of the match; which they did.

But while doing so they certainly did not opt to play negatively.

They allowed Belgium time on the ball but did not sit back the way Wilmots’ men did in the first half. Any opportunity Wales got, they used it to press their opponents and launch a counter. They did not let any Belgian player time and space and seemed to have learnt from the mistake of allowing Nainggolan too much space for his opening strike.

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What ensued was a physical battle and when Belgium realised they could not get through the middle of the park with Wales getting as compact as possible, they started to show signs of desperation by feeding Marouane Fellaini long balls.

The strategy, as learnt by former Manchester United Louis van Gaal as well, reaps very little rewards and while Belgium came close twice to get back in the game, they were fended off well by a focused and remarkably organised Welsh defence.

Negative football has been a curse in modern times with Greece being the prime example of it during their romp to the 2004 European crown. And while its application somewhat makes sense for teams who do not possess an abundance of world-class talent; for teams like Belgium, which boast one of the most outstanding players of our times, this is one of the most disgraceful paths to take. Hence, they paid the right price.