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While doing an exercise of trying to determine which were the best players of the day, last Sunday had a lot of potential to give Messi all the headlines in a positive way for his Copa America performance. But given that he lost it, the player who was considered the best player of the day was Eden Hazard. Belgium's number 10 was instrumental in his side's victory against Hungary and qualified them to the Euros' quarterfinals where they will meet Wales.
After the match, manager Marc Wilmots hailed Hazard as a player who speaks inside the field in the crucial moments: "There were a lot of people that were amazed that I gave Eden the armband but you need to let this little man grow up. He doesn't do a lot of talking and I wasn't surprised by that. A captain can't always do his talking with his mouth but tonight he did his with his feet."
When quizzed about what he told Hazard to motivate him, Wilmots added: "I told him that I wanted him to score a goal by cutting inside. He wasn't getting close enough to the goal and he needs to have fun on the pitch. It was almost impossible to take the ball off him tonight. When we are going through tough times, we can give him the ball and have a breather. Likewise Kevin De Bruyne, Yannick Carrasco and Dries Mertens. Also, when they lose the ball, they work hard to win it back."
In a more thorough analysis, Wilmots spoke about the development of the game against Hungary: "At half-time, we can't come in at just 1-0, we should have been at least 3-0 up which would have made the game easier. It was 1-0 for too long. We were able to get the second and third goals quickly but we needed too many chances. When we can move the ball quickly we can take the opposition out and I think our 4-2-3-1 formation worked. I was playing with four forwards if you will and we have struck the right balance with the two sitting midfielders. We might be weaker from a defensive perspective but every time De Bruyne lost the ball he made the effort to come back. And he was very quick going the other way."
Wilmots also addressed the suspension of centre-back Thomas Vermaelen who won't play against Wales: "The last three games we have kept clean sheets with a new defensive unit. Thomas Vermaelen won't be with us in Lille but we'll find a solution. It was a shame, Hungary had eight players [on a yellow coming in] and we had four but we shouldn't worry about that. You can't hold back if you're on a yellow card, we have other good players. Thomas can have a break, he's been excellent. Whether he could have played again in in five days' time I'm not sure. I am hoping we can get to the semis so he will be rested up and available."
Photo credit: Belgian Red Devils
