Thibaut Courtois does not want to draw too many conclusions from the defeat of Belgium against the Netherlands on Sunday evening. The Red Devils lost 1-0 against the the Dutch in the Johan Cruijff ArenA and therefore ran for the Final Four of the Nations League. “The World Cup is only in two months, everything is possible there.”
“We dominated the Netherlands and could have scored four or five goals,” said Courtois after the Nations League match. “But we didn’t score, while they only scored from a corner. So it wasn’t all that bad. I just saw Louis Van Gaal and he also said we deserved to win. We were the only ones who could create dangerous chances. If Eden Hazard takes that early chance, we will have a completely different game.” The Real Madrid attacker received the ball after three minutes on a silver platter from Amadou Onana, but then shot sky high.
It particularly irritates Courtois that direct conclusions are drawn from the narrow defeat against the the Dutch. “It’s always the same with you, the press,” he responds somewhat piqued. “After every game, conclusions should be made as ‘hopeful’ and ‘encouraging’. Look, the World Cup is only two months away. Everything is possible there. Of course, we’re not playing our best game, but it wasn’t the kind of thing to worry about or to read on Monday that everything was bad.”
“We are playing against the team that beat us 1-4 in Brussels”, continues Courtois. “It’s a shame we missed the efficiency, so we lost 1-0. But we should certainly not be dramatic about this result. These matches are just to get us ready for the World Cup. That’s where it has to happen.” In the draw for the World Cup, Belgium was linked to Croatia, Morocco and Canada.