Skip to main content

Brilliant Hazard inspires Belgium's golden boys

Hungarian football fans know a thing or two about Golden Generations.

And while the likes of Ferenc Puskas and the rest of the Magnificent Magyars belong to a different time, consigned to a chapter in a football encyclopedia, the term continues to be bandied around every time a country turns up at a major tournament with a crop of promising players.

For some it's a millstone - ask any England or Portugal fan of the past 20 years - but for some it becomes a welcome pressure, an added responsibility on which they thrive.

At his pre-match press conference prior to the last 16 clash with Hungary in Toulouse, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots welcomed the tag of match favourites. "We'll need to play like a big nation, like a favourite," he said. Earlier in the week, he said he'd have rather played Spain than Hungary.

Having enjoyed the luck of the draw - Belgium are in the weaker top half with Wales next before a potential semi-final meeting with either Poland or Portugal - it would be a major surprise if Wilmots' men were not one of the title-challengers at the Stade de France on July 10.

Bar a 15-minute spell in the second half when Thibaut Courtois was called into action to turn over Adam Pinter's deflected shot, Hungary did not come close. And had it not been for their 40-year-old goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly it would have been an embarrassing night for Bernd Storck and his men.

Time and again the man famous for his baggy grey jogging bottoms denied Belgium with the pick of his saves a stunning fingertip effort to push Kevin De Bruyne's free-kick on to the bar.