Belgium's players were surprised, confused and disappointed by the response of their supporters after scraping into the last 16 of Euro 2024 with a goalless draw against Ukraine on Wednesday.
The Red Devils needed only a point from their final Group E match to be sure of a place in the knockout stage, but they could have topped the group with a win.
Instead, having been held by Ukraine in another toothless display, Belgium will have to face France in the next round, thrust into what is widely considered the tougher half of the draw.
Despite those permutations, Belgium opted to protect their point in the closing stages, rather than chase a winner.
So, when the final whistle sounded, the travelling Belgian fans jeered their players instead of joining in the celebrations.
Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgium captain, directed his team-mates back to the dressing room, and the players described their shock to the Belgian media.
"We are qualified and very proud as a group," said Yannick Carrasco. "As a group, we do not understand the reaction of the fans. We find that disappointing.
"We decided together to go to the dressing room, because we don't think the whistling is normal. You cannot forget where Belgium comes from, and now we participate in every tournament."
Jan Vertonghen added: "I was one of the first to go to the fans, because I was genuinely happy with the qualification and wanted to greet them.
"Yes, there is disappointment because we didn't win, but being booed after we qualified... it's the first time I've experienced that.
"De Bruyne then decided to return to the dressing room and go in together. I understand that. He's the captain and can make that decision."
Head coach Domenico Tedesco weighed in, saying: "I am surprised. All that mattered was qualifying.
"We lost the first match, so the conditions were not easy. And after our win against Romania, everyone was happy.
"My players do not understand that we are now being whistled at. This was a difficult opponent. We did everything we could to score. But hey, we have to accept this."
De Bruyne skirted around the issue in his own interview with broadcasters, but he defended Belgium's approach.
"If we go all out for a goal and we lose, what then? You can do that and concede a goal like against England [in March's friendly]," he said.
"France are now waiting. We have to recover well and go all out for that match. We are underdogs there. But if you want to win a European Championship, you have to beat everyone, and now it is France."
Argentina 2-0 Peru: Martinez double seals top spot with knockout blow to La Blanquirroja
Lautaro Martinez's fine goalscoring form continued as he sealed top spot for Argentina in Group A, with a 2-0 victory over Peru, who were eliminated from the competition.
With Lionel Messi out due to a groin injury, the forward stepped up, scoring at the start and end of the second half to ease any nerves after a slow first 45 minutes at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Leandro Paredes' miss from the penalty spot did not prove costly as Peru failed to threaten in what was a must-win game.
Argentina will face the runner-up of Group B in their quarter-final, while Canada take second place in the group after their 0-0 draw with Chile, while Peru make an early exit.
With a place in the quarter-finals already secured, Argentina made a slow start to the game - Alejandro Garnacho's deflected curler was their only chance in the opening 25 minutes.
The goalkeeper was required to keep things level shortly after, getting a strong hand to stop Paredes' whipped free-kick from heading into the top-left corner.
Giovani Lo Celso was then picked out on the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time, but Gallese parried his first-time shot before Garnacho fired the rebound just over the crossbar.
The half-time team talk worked wonders for Argentina, as Angel Di Maria cut Peru's defence wide open by picking out Martinez, who deftly chipped the opener over Gallese just two minutes into the second half.
Nicolas Tagliafico thought he had doubled their tally moments later, poking over the line from a corner, but it was disallowed as Lo Celso was blocking the goalkeeper's view from an offside position.
Argentina had another chance to double their lead in the 69th minute, with Jesus Castillo penalised for a handball as he slid in to block Paredes' cross in the box, and the midfielder could not profit, rattling the inside of the post with a powerful spot-kick.
In an almost carbon copy of his first goal, Martinez raced in behind once again in the 86th minute and lifted a lovely effort over Gallese, who could not get a hand to it.
Franco Zanelatto almost salvaged some pride for La Blanquirroja in the dying moments, but his thumping header bounced off the near post and, agonisingly, along the face of goal.
Martinez retains golden touch
Though Argentina were already into the quarter-finals with a game to spare, it felt like they might not be at their best without talisman Messi and manager Lionel Scaloni, who was serving a touchline ban.
However, Martinez has stepped up in this tournament, scoring in all three of their group games as he leads the race for the Golden Boot with four goals to his name.
His first two strikes both came off the bench, with his late winner sending the Albiceleste into the knockout stages against Chile, and he made the most of his first start in the tournament with an early goal in the second half.
It is just the third time this century that Argentina have won all three of their group games - the last two times (2007, 2016) they finished as runners-up, but Scaloni will be hoping they can go one better and defend their title this time around.
Peru go out with a whimper
This year's Copa America has been a tournament to forget for Peru, who go out of the tournament with just one point to their name - it is the first time they have been eliminated without a single victory since 1995.
La Blanquirroja needed a win to have a chance of snagging second spot, with hope that Canada and Chile played out a draw in the other Group A game.
However, they managed just six shots in the game, creating an expected goals of 0.14, and finish the tournament with a meagre tally of 22 efforts from their three matches without hitting the back of the net.
It was always going to be a tough ask to get a win against the defending champions, even with all of their changes, but Peru's starting front three of Bryan Reyna, Paolo Guerrero and Edison Flores not managing a single shot did not make matters easier.
Marseille confirm De Zerbi appointment
Marseille have confirmed the appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach.
It was announced on Tuesday that the club had agreed a deal in principle with the Italian, before confirming he has signed a three-year contract on Saturday.
In a statement to the club website, De Zerbi said: "I'm delighted to be joining Olympique de Marseille, as I had a very strong desire to join the club.
"The history and prestige that surround OM, the passion and fervour of its supporters, and the seriousness and enthusiasm shown to me by Frank [McCourt], Pablo [Longoria] and Medhi [Banatia] were all decisive factors in my decision to embark on this exciting challenge.
"I can't wait to sit on the bench at the Orange Velodrome, this time as OM coach, and help the club regain the position that Marseille deserves."
De Zerbi, whose shock departure from Brighton was announced the day before the end of the 2023-24 season, led the Seagulls to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League after taking over from Graham Potter in 2022, securing European football for the first time in their history.
Brighton topped their Europa League group, beating Marseille in the process, but were knocked out by Roma in the round of 16 before slumping to an 11th-place finish in the league.
The French side, meanwhile, went through three managers last season, with Jean-Louis Gasset overseeing the end of the campaign as Marseille finished eighth in Ligue 1, outside the European places.
Nagelsmann: Germany will not feel added pressure in Euro 2024
Julian Nagelsmann believes Germany will feel no added pressure after playing their "best" football at Euro 2024 so far during their 2-0 win over Denmark.
Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala both scored in the second half to send Germany through to the quarter-finals, though it was a game that also had three disallowed goals and a near-30-minute break in the first half due to a storm in Dortmund.
Despite that, Germany remained in control for large parts of the game, though Nagelsmann pointed out there is still room for improvement before they face either Spain or Georgia in the next round.
"The first 20 minutes of the game was the best we've played at the tournament and then the rain break unsettled everyone," Nagelsmann said.
"Denmark didn't have a shot in the first half, but in the second half put more pressure on us. There's a lot of work to do ahead of the quarter-finals, we need to be a little more patient in the build-up phase and wait for our moments."
Asked if the fans' expectations will rise after Germany won their first knockout game for eight years, Nagelsmann added: "I think we have no more pressure than usual. I think the fans and also the expectation of our fans is a big push for us.
"We can deal with the pressure. For me, it's still a privilege, and we also tell the players it's a privilege to play soccer games under pressure. All the players are used to dealing with it, so it's no problem."
Nico Schlotterbeck was one of those denied by VAR after he thought he had scored his first goal for the national team after just five minutes before it was disallowed for a foul in the build-up.
He later set up Musiala's strike though, with the defender echoing the praise of their manager.
"I think we had a super game and hope that the fans in Dortmund enjoyed it," said Schlotterbeck. "I'm very happy for the team, it's reward for the hard work.
"The break for the rain, we handled well. We played with euphoria and with pleasure, and now we go to Stuttgart [for the quarter-final]."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
