Frankly, even with the utmost objectivity, it is difficult to draw any negative lessons from the Red Lions’ start to competition. Admittedly, they took time to score in their meeting against a very defensive South Korea but you can see patience there. Admittedly, against the Germans, they equalized at the end of the match but we can see character there. Admittedly, against the Japanese, a few mini-moments of hesitation appeared but it is never easy to maintain a high level of play for 60 minutes. In the end, our national team went through its group stage without too many problems to end up in the quarter-finals.
Even in 2018, she had to go through the Crossovers. Here, that was not the case and only history – and undoubtedly counter analysis – will tell if it would have been better to repeat itself.
In the meantime, the cards are now redistributed with the start of the knockout matches. Argentina, however favorite, paid the price this Monday against Korea in the eighth.
However, even there, the stars are aligning for the Red Lions. New Zealand will present themselves on Tuesday (2:30 p.m. live on VOOSport) on the ground while logic would have liked to see India face the men of Michael van den Heuvel. But under the pressure of their boiling public, double-edged sword, and the quality of their Neo-Z opponents, the host country cracked and thus offers Belgium a meeting that is easier, emotionally, to manage.
In addition, while the Belgians trained again in blazing heat on Monday (40° on the thermometer), their meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in much more pleasant conditions (even if air pollution remains largely present).
In short, everything is going well for the Red Lions and, honestly, on analysis of the forces present, against the 10th nation in the world, an elimination of the Olympic and world champions would be a real underperformance.
