Candid Roberto Martinez looks back in detail at the World Cup on Spanish radio: “We were not ready like in Russia”

The conversation on the Spanish radio station immediately started pleasantly. Roberto Martinez started with a witticism. He corrected the presenter when he said that they had the ex-national coach of Belgium on the phone.

“May I draw your attention to the fact that I am still national coach of the Belgians until December 31,” said Martinez. “We have lived in Waterloo for the past 6.5 years and we are still there. I’m still working a bit. I have two daughters and the girls are happy at school here, so the plan is to stay here until June so they can finish the school year. We will spend the end-of-year celebrations in both Spain and England to satisfy both sides of the family.”

“Now I’m trying to be a good father for the next two weeks to my two girls, whom I haven’t seen much. I focus on the family and then I will tackle a new project. It is not that I say in advance that it must be a club or a national team. I have experienced both environments, which are very different. I recommend club trainers the experience of playing a major tournament with a country, it enriches you as a trainer. For me it is especially important when I step into a new project that I feel good with the people, that they let me work and that I get the chance to build something. That has always appealed to me.”

Roberto Martinez will be the national coach from January 1, 2023, but confirmed that he could actually have signed for the World Cup. What was in the back of my mind was the doubt about when the cycle ended. The result at the World Cup has made that clear.

“It’s true that they made me a new contract proposal before the World Cup. The difficulty over the past 6.5 years has been to estimate when a cycle is over. That is always difficult for a trainer. It always seems like you’re leaving a project halfway through or you’re leaving for a big appointment. Before the World Cup, we knew that if we won the World Cup or if we failed to survive the group stage, the cycle would be over. Now is the time when you can proudly hand over the project to the next national coach. Everything ended naturally and with good timing.”

The elimination in the first round of the World Cup remains a disappointment, even though it surprised Martinez that Morocco and Croatia, two countries from the group of the Belgians, made it to the semi-finals.

“It was a big disappointment, although it turns out afterwards that we were in a surprising group with two semi-finalists. Morocco has amazed, they really made it their World Cup. They have never played at this level with such an audience behind them. We know Croatia very well and it depends on details: a ball on the post that went in or didn’t cost us the qualification. Four points were not enough.”

“If Lukaku had been fit from the start of the World Cup, you would have seen a different Belgium. It arrived in a week. We were afraid he would get injured again. For us he is an irreplaceable player: he is a goalscorer, strong in the air, who creates space and allows us to play football between the lines. The day of the match against Croatia, he was only able to play 45 minutes. In those 45 minutes we had five opportunities to score. I have not seen a single team at this World Cup that could do that against this Croatia. The fact that a ball then hits the inside or outside of the post has to do with the freshness and self-confidence of the player after a long injury and working hard to be there again, while that was very difficult from a medical point of view .”

Tensions in the group were also discussed. In the opening game against Canada there was the open discussion between Toby Alderweireld and Kevin De Bruyne and after the defeat against Morocco there were the strange statements of Jan Vertonghen, who said he had better not say too much. The icing on the cake was the article in L’Equipe about a fight after the match against Morocco, something that is denied by the Red Devils.

“Those were rumors and an own goal set up by a French medium,” Martinez repeated what he also said about it at the World Cup. “As you know, there is a great football rivalry between France and Belgium. Of course there is little fun if you don’t win competitions. You have sixteen players who already had experience at a World Cup and ten players for whom it was their first appointment at a World Cup. Those players have an exemplary role in the national team. Others we know from when they were fourteen. It’s not that you bring people you don’t know at all. There were stories that there were quarrels, but that is not true. They caused some turmoil, but that only made us stronger internally. It was a separate World Cup due to the short preparation time. For the World Cup in Russia, we as staff had the feeling that our group was sufficiently prepared. Before the World Cup in Qatar, we played a friendly against Egypt in Kuwait and we felt that we would need those three group games to get the right momentum and be ready for a big event. Only two days before the last group match against Croatia did I see a group that was ready. There was tension because there was a great responsibility to win. We weren’t ourselves against Morocco. But to say that there was disagreement, that there were quarrels, that is far from the truth.”

Is Martinez frustrated that he was unable to win a trophy with the Belgian golden generation?

“Frustration is only when you’re not trying to win a trophy. The feeling is that we have done everything we can and have grown enormously in 6.5 years. When I arrived in 2016, Jan Ceulemans was the record international with 96 caps and now we have eight players who have passed the 100 mark. So we’re dealing with a very dedicated generation with a lot of talent, it’s not often you have that much talent together at the same time. We have achieved a very consistent level by being number one in the world for four years and that for a country with eleven million inhabitants.”

“We won six games at the 2018 World Cup and got a bronze medal. At the European Championship we won four games and lost against the later champions, Italy. We have had good and beautiful moments, but this generation deserved a title. Yet there is no frustration: we have tried it thoughtfully with attacking football and we have dared to take risks. If you do, then you have the satisfaction of having tried.”

Finally, Martinez gave a striking prediction for the World Cup final. If he is right, it is best not to book too many appointments on Sunday.

“France has a team that feels very comfortable with big appointments like a final. We also saw that in 2018, with other players, but with very similar divisions of tasks. Griezmann ensures that this team can play compact and disciplined. Giroud has the same role as in 2018. I think it will depend a lot on Mbappé’s form on the day. The same can be said of Argentina, which can adapt like a chameleon to the opponent. They have the advantage of playing at home with so many supporters behind them. It is a team that can defend and attack in different ways. They depend enormously on the Messi factor. The two teams are ready to become world champions, but if you can tell me which of those two players will get the upper hand, then I can tell you who will probably win. If you really ask me for a prediction: I think the final will end in penalty kicks.”