Wilmots unconvinced by ´ordinary´ Argentina

Marc Wilmots labelled Argentina as “ordinary” after they dumped his Belgium side out of the FIFA World Cup in Brasilia on Saturday.

Gonzalo Higuain scored the only goal of the game to send Argentina through to the semi-finals on Saturday as Belgium bowed out with a lacklustre display.

Wilmots’ men looked disjointed and were toothless as Napoli striker Higuain ended their campaign with a well-taken finish early in the game.

However, Wilmots was far from impressed by Argentina’s showing and suggested Belgium would be criticised back home had they turned in a similar performance.

“We were not impressed by the Argentinians. They are just an ordinary team,” he said.

“People complained about our performances in our first three matches but this is what football is all about. I’m not saying Argentina can’t be world champions: they have [Angel] di Maria and [Lionel] Messi, two of the top five players in the world. But how many shots did they have?

“Seriously, if we’d played this way we’d have been destroyed by the Belgian press. We have a bit to learn. We lacked a little something and sometimes we didn’t make the right choices.”

Despite having plenty of attacking talent, Belgium lacked ideas going forward but Wilmots felt his team did themselves proud and also questioned why referee Nicola Rizzoli failed to book Lionel Messi..

“I don’t want to be a cry baby but I noticed [Messi] made three fouls and no yellow card? The referee never gives fouls against Argentina,” he added.

“We had one foul, and a yellow card. But I’m not complaining about the refereeing. We move on. I’m thinking about how we move on and build from this. We need to learn to lose gracefully. That’s what I’m doing.

“The world has seen that Belgium have an excellent team. We can be proud of our side. But this was a quarter-final in the World Cup and the small details made the difference. Perhaps, also, experience makes a difference.

“A few of my players can improve, but let’s not forget this was the first time they have appeared at a major championships.

“Even so, I’ve rarely seen Argentina cramp up like they did. They had been stretched. If we’d equalised in the last few minutes, they would be dead. Finished.”