Belgium Staring Down the Abyss: Can the Old Guard Escape Group Stage Oblivion?

It seemed almost impossible. A big team crashing out at the group stage? We were fairly certain it wouldn't happen—not with a 48-team format offering a third-place safety net and at least one fixture every seeded side ought to navigate comfortably. Belgium are now putting that theory to the test, and the results are grim.

Two consecutive toothless draws have left the Belgians in a precarious position. Worse still, Nathan Ngoy's straight red card midway through the second half of their dreary goalless encounter with Iran has saddled them with a disciplinary black mark. With the group only halfway through and no team having claimed a win, that conduct record could prove the decisive tiebreaker come the final reckoning.

The Belgian side that once promised so much feels like a relic now. Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne shuffling aimlessly against Iran's determined underdogs painted a sorry picture—the unmistakable image of a squad running on fumes. This tournament doesn't suit veterans, and Belgium are absolutely loaded with them. The Golden Generation has either hung up their boots or become shadows of their former selves.

Their closing group match pits them against New Zealand, a side whose tournament reputation rests entirely on drawing matches. Should Belgium fail to break them down, the dice will be firmly in the lap of the gods.

The silver lining? This group offers the kindest possible route to the last 32. The winner faces a third-placed team. The runner-up gets either Australia or Paraguay from Group D. Even a third-place finish could yield manageable opposition—potentially the winner of Canada's group, or at worst France (let's not dwell on that scenario).

Yet the uncomfortable truth is staring everyone in the face. This is an ageing Belgium outfit in precisely the wrong tournament to be ageing. They'll probably still qualify. They might even top the group, given that nobody has seized control. But there's nothing in what we've witnessed to suggest they'll venture far beyond the group stage regardless of how the draw unfolds.

Belgium's failure to win silverware during their genuine contention years will forever carry a "what if?" sting. Even when ranked number one in the world, they were still being cast as dark horses rather than favourites—a telling detail. But they genuinely were contenders then, for several tournament cycles running.

Not anymore. Incorrectly labelled dark horses for this tournament when they once were the real deal, Belgium's moment has passed. Dark horses need genuine potential to spring a surprise and win it all. This Belgium side offers neither.