Van Bommel urges patience after Belgium’s heavy France defeat

Mark van Bommel has defended Belgium’s progress despite a 4-1 defeat by France that left him with two victories and two losses from his first international window in charge. The Dutch coach acknowledged the scale of Monday’s result but argued that the scoreline did not tell the full story of the performance.

France scored all four of their goals during the closing 15 minutes. Van Bommel said Belgium had not been comprehensively outplayed before that decisive spell, while stressing the depth and quality available to the opposition. He also pointed to the players’ work over the previous two weeks and said he had seen more encouraging signs than negative ones across the four matches.

Belgium are not yet ready to overcome elite opponents, according to their coach, but Van Bommel believes the team are developing an approach that can eventually close that gap. “To beat top countries, you need an idea,” he said, as quoted by De Telegraaf. He added that France are currently considerably stronger and questioned whether anyone could reasonably have expected Belgium to dominate them after only two weeks together.

Van Bommel’s target is for Belgium to win matches of this level at the European Championship in two years. He believes creating a stronger collective platform will allow the side’s individuals to excel, although he warned that building such a team will take time.