End of the road for Red Devils

It was not to be for the brave Red Devils: their World Cup hopes came to an end on Saturday after a 1-0 quarter-finals defeat to Argentina sent them out of the competition that they had done so much to light up. An early first half strike by Gonzalo Higuain from a lucky break ensured it was Argentina who progressed to the semi-finals, and Belgium taking the plane home from Brazil.

Yet while the Belgian squad can hold their heads up high over reaching the final eight, they will rue the many missed chances in a game that could easily have gone their way. Although Lionel Messi delivered a brilliant performance, Argentina as a whole were eminently beatable. But Belgium failed to connect where it counts, in the final third of the pitch.

The goal came after Messi pirouetted around Marouane Fellaini and fed Angel Di Maria, whose deflected kick hit off Jan Vertonghen and fell nicely for Higuain to thump a half-volley into the bottom corner.

The first half also saw Kevin De Bruyne test keeper Sergio Romero with a 25-yarder and Argentina suffer a blow when Di Maria limped off just after the half-hour. Eden Hazard was billed as Belgium's answer to Messi but he struggled to make any inroads: the first-half header that he stooped to make from a cross by Jan Vertonghen flew wide and that was pretty much that. Hazard picked up a yellow card and was later replaced by Nacer Chadli.

Belgium could still have scored in the second half, and when Vertonghen swung over a deep cross from the left, Fellaini went close with a trademark towering header. There were other chances as Fellaini was thrown forward, Belgium bombed it long and the Argentine goal was peppered. Belgium, whilst more direct and physical than inspirational, ran right to the end when Romelu Lukaku drove in a cross and Axel Witsel shot over, they made it a nervous affair. By the end, Lukaku, Fellaini and Daniel van Buyten were all located in the penalty area, looking to punish what Belgian coach Marc Wilmots clearly saw as a weak Argentina defence.

Wilmots has chopped and changed all tournament – unable to decide between Lukaku, who was relegated to the bench, and 19-year-old striker Divock Origi. But the decision to gamble on the teenager, who has only one full season at Lille behind him, did not work.

Wilmots later accused Argentina of being an “ordinary” team who had employed gamesmanship to secure their win over his side which he said they did not deserve. Wilmots said Argentina’s manager, Alex Sabella, had only wanted to destroy the game. “How many shots did Argentina have?” he asked. “Seriously. If we’d played this way we’d have been destroyed by the Belgian press. We are disappointed to go home.”

Wilmots was right to point out that as the game wore on, Argentina retreated and created little, a last-minute chance for Messi aside when keeper Thibault Courtois saved well. “They suffered and if we had equalised they were dead and buried,” Wilmots said. But in reality, Argentina should have had the game won by early in the second half.

The Belgian team were expected to return to Brussels on Monday afternoon, but asked fans not to come to the airport to welcome them. The Brussels city authorities had planned a welcome parade through the city centre, but it was uncertain whether that would happen: Wilmots has instead talked of ‘Fan Day’ in early September.

A letter written on behalf of the squad was posted on the Belgian Football Association website on Saturday, thanking fans for their “world class support”, adding that “it was really fantastic to see how much you have seen this World Cup with passion, and we can assure you that your support has touched us enormously.”