With rumours of unrest in the Belgium camp prior to kick-off, talk of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois being dropped was rife in the media.
Courtois vs. Wilmots https://t.co/02YB1DLiBd
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 17, 2016
And, to be fair, it wouldn’t have made an awful lot of difference if Simon Mignolet, Jean-Francois Gillet or even Marc Wilmots himself jumped in nets for Saturday’s Group E game against the Republic of Ireland.
A ruthless Belgian second half, coupled with an Irish capitulation, resulted in three goals flying beyond Darren Randolph’s fingertips, and Ireland’s qualification chances were dealt a hammer blow.
To be fair, it never looked like Ireland were going to offer any threat on the Belgium goal throughout the 90 minutes on Saturday and that fact was cemented by the troubling statistic that it was the first time in over two decades that Ireland had failed to register a shot on target in a game at a major tournament.
0 – #IRL failed to have a shot on target in a major tournament match for the first time since the 1994 World Cup (vs Norway). Duff.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 18, 2016
The last time that an Irish side were so misfiring and bereft of clear goalscoring opportunities was at the 1994 World Cup against Norway when we also failed to trouble the goalkeeper, Erik Thorstvedt on that occasion.
Please get better soon, Jon Walters.
