Seattle, July 2 (IANS) Belgium manager Rudi Garcia reflected on Belgium’s dramatic comeback against Senegal, saying it wasn’t looked possible for his side to turn around the game in the 83rd minute when they were down 2-0, but a quick chat during the hydration break helped the team achieve the near-impossible turnaround.
Belgium looked down and out as the clock ticked past the 85-minute mark and they were 2-0 behind. But Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans struck in the last five minutes to force an additional half hour before Tielemans put his side ahead with a 125th-minute penalty.
“Football is full of emotions,” Garcia told a post-match news conference. “In the 83rd minute it wasn’t easy to believe we could come back. At the hydration break I told the players that if we scored another goal, anything was possible.
“We did that and it opened the game up again. Both teams had opportunities in extra time, but the momentum was with us. We were well structured. This is a result that can make our group stronger.”
Belgium will vie for a quarterfinal place against the United States at the same venue on Monday. Garcia said rest was now his squad’s top priority. “We need to recover because 120 minutes is a lot on the legs,” he said.
“We saw the effects on the players at the end. Tonight we qualified for the round of 16 and now we’ll see who we face. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to enjoy this victory and then prepare as well as we can.”
The 62-year-old Frenchman reserved special praise for Senegal and admitted the team was unlucky to be eliminated. “We played against an excellent Senegal side,” he said.
“It was the worst possible opponent for us in the round of 32. They have a lot of quality, they are fast and they pressed us very well. There were two excellent teams on the pitch today. Senegal would have deserved to reach the next round,” he added.
–IANS
bc/