World Cup 2018: 3 reasons why England lost to Belgium

Modified Jul 17, 2018 19:38 GMT

Belgium v England: 3rd Place Playoff - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia — England finish their World Cup journey as the fourth best team

#1 England did not take their chances

Well, England did prove that they can create good chances against a strong opposition. But they're yet to prove that they can finish them off. Harry Kane scuffed a glorious opportunity in the first half after Sterling laid it off to him at the edge of the area.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek headed a cross from Tripper straight into the hands of Thibaut Courtois. Maguire missed two free headers from corners. But England's best chance came in the 70th minute when Eric Dier played a lovely give and go with Rashford and then dinked the ball over a brave Courtois only to see it cleared off the line by Toby Alderweireld.

Had England taken their chances, they could have pegged Belgium back onto the backfoot and made them feel the pressure. However, they failed to do that and ended up finishing 4th in the 2018 World Cup. Still a commendable achievement, lads.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram