Yannick Carrasco (Belgium): “Nobody will want to lose this match”
Without Romelu Lukaku nor Eden Hazard, muscularly tired and returned to care in Belgium, according to the coach, nor Thomas Foket, injured during the warm-up against France (2-3, Thursday), Belgium is preparing its small final of the League of nations against Italy (3 p.m. this Sunday in Turin) without much motivation. After the defeat against France, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois admitted that he should not dispute the idea of having this match which “Was useless”.
His coach said yesterday that he was fielding a competitive team and that he wanted to defend the first place in the FIFA rankings. But also that this meeting would serve as a basis and a test at the start of twelve months of preparation for the 2022 World Cup. Scorer against the Blues, Cédric Carrasco believes that his team succumbed to his emotions on Thursday but that ‘ she must behave in a professional manner.
“In what state of mind is Belgium after its elimination against France?
It was complicated after the game. But that’s part of the job. You have to know how to lose. And when it does, get up and be professional. We have to think about the next game and do everything to win it.
What is your analysis of this defeat against France (2-3)?
In the foot, anything can happen. We had control of the game in the first half. At the break, France changed its mind. She defended in a group, attacked and tried to score this 1st goal. She succeeded. We started to play in the register of emotion, to multiply the unnecessary losses of ball.
We restored our opponent’s confidence and unfortunately lost this meeting in the last minutes. Whether we now finish third or fourth in the League of Nations will not change much. I don’t like defeat. But I want to help this team. No one will want to lose this game.
How do you explain that you succumbed to the emotion when most of the Belgian players are experienced and mature?
Sometimes, it is more difficult to control certain situations, to get out of a ”bad mood”. Taking back control of a game becomes difficult. It’s up to us to put the ball out of the game and get our ideas straight. You cannot understand from the outside what we experienced inside the team. France put a lot of pressure on us. We couldn’t get the balloons out. Fatigue has come into play and it has eaten away at our lucidity. Finally, there are facts of the game. We still have to learn to be better in Qatar.
“We still have an extraordinary team”
What did your coach tell you after the loss?
He spoke to the group the next day summing up the positive and the negative. On one all of the qualities in this group. Sur proved it in the first half. We were above the game, the peace, the good passing lines. We knew how to react in loss of ball, to play high in the opposing camp.
And the second half showed just the opposite. On one played with emotion. We forgot the positioning instructions, our concentration. Our discounts were out. Fatigue may have played a role. As much as we were stronger in the first period, we did not take on the pressure in the second.
What is the real face of Belgium?
We still have an extraordinary team as evidenced by this first period against France. But we must learn to be more hateful, smarter, know how to cut actions at the right time. The coach told us, but it’s up to us to know how to get our foot on the ball, to be aggressive at the right time. “