Belgium media & Vertonghen swarm De Bruyne after losing to Morocco

The Belgium media join Jan Vertonghen by turning their attack on Kevin De Bruyne after the Red Devils lost 2-0 to Morocco last night (Sunday November 27, 2022). The loss brought De Bruyne and his team closer to being eliminated from the World Cup. They have just three points with their only remaining game in the group stages coming against 2018 runners-up Croatia. And now they are heavily criticized by the media in their home country.

"He's lost the ball 27 times!" Belgium website HLN wrote a headline aiming at De Bruyne. "There must be (player) new blood!" Those were the words of former Dutch midfielder Jan Malde. Thor, which at least they quite agree with the Blues midfielder. Le Soir, on the other hand, did not hesitate to criticize it either. To rate players... Three points for reserve striker Michy Batshuayi, three for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and four for De Bruyne. 2 of the world in this tournament But has yet to make a difference despite starting regularly for a team that is widely regarded as the best team in the world at club level.”

Another media outlet, De Standaard, is probably the most underrated. They ran the headlines: "Defeat to Morocco reveals mutual distrust amongst the Red Devils." "Who shook De Bruyne awake?" They then wrote: "His attitude. Shows little relationship between colleagues and empathy. De Bruyne's failure to do so (Playing well) is a concern. KDB play every week against Manchester City and can offer a good record. But anyone who has been following his matches closely this season will find that he is not at his best at Man Utd. City as well.

De Bruyne has previously said his team 'have no chance' of lifting the World Cup because they are 'too old'. Berto Martinez before in the past also said that the team's young players 'Not at the same level as the players who left the national team after the 2018 World Cup'

Speaking after Morocco's loss to The Guardian, Martinez denied the team were distracted by De Bruyne's words, saying: "This is the first time I've heard those comments at the World Cup. Having spoken to the media every day, 90 percent of it is positive. But there's always one or two sentences out of context.” “We're all professionals and we know how to show it. Players are allowed to reveal their views. We have been together for six years. and opinions doesn't help us win Perhaps it was a clever attempt to deceive someone. It's what happens behind the scenes that matters ′′ I don't see us enjoying our football or playing with pleasure. We weren't playing with pleasure, and probably because of the weight we carried on our shoulders. We played the last two games like we had something to lose.

However, De Bruyne's team-mate Vertonghen, 35, took the comments seriously. He attacked the offensive line because he didn't create any chances. And it seems to respond indirectly to De Bruyne's comments. Things I shouldn't say in the open I don't think we created any chances. Where did it go wrong?” We might be bad at attacking because we are too old. Is it really like that now? We have a lot of quality up front. But so is Morocco. And today they are doing better. It's very disappointing. Obviously that's De Bruyne. There's conflict within the camp. And Belgium is on the verge of disaster. The last chance of their Golden Age is almost over. They will only have one chance to salvage this tournament when they face Croatia on Thursday 1st December 2022.