Belgium Scrape Top Spot in Group G but the Old Doubts Remain

Belgium have won Group G, and Leandro Trossard is the reason why. His brace in the final group game blew the cobwebs off a tournament start that ranged from cautious to alarming, securing top spot and, with it, a theoretically softer route through the knockout rounds.

But this was relief, not a renaissance. Belgium needed one man's individual brilliance to rescue a campaign that had stalled badly across two opening matches. They got the job done. The cracks are still there.

Trossard's brace masks a sluggish Belgium start

For two games, Belgium looked like a side carrying the weight of expectation rather than the talent to meet it. The football was flat, the chances were rare, and the swagger that once made them the world's No. 1-ranked team was nowhere to be seen.

Then Trossard intervened. The Arsenal forward delivered the two goals that turned a nervy group stage into a first-place finish, doing at international level exactly what he has done so reliably in club colours: arriving in the right place at the right moment.

What actually went wrong in the opening two matches

The problem was not effort. It was sharpness. Belgium struggled to break down opponents who sat deep, and the link between midfield and attack repeatedly broke down in the final third.

For a squad packed with attacking options, two laboured performances raised legitimate questions about cohesion and intent. Topping the group disguises that, but it does not erase it.

• Trossard's brace sealed top spot in Group G.
• Belgium's first two group games were widely described as slow and underwhelming.
• This is a side that once held the world No. 1 ranking.

Why one player bailing out the team is a warning sign

When a tournament campaign hinges on a single match-winner, that is not a strength. It is a dependency.

Belgium have the personnel to overwhelm opponents in waves. Instead they leaned on Trossard to provide the moments nobody else could. Against stronger opposition in the knockouts, that reliance becomes a vulnerability.

Why topping Group G matters for the knockout draw

Finishing first is worth more than bragging rights. It reshapes Belgium's path through the bracket and, with it, the betting market on their deep-run potential.

Top spot in Group G means a theoretically kinder draw, avoiding the toughest group winners in the early knockout rounds. For a team trying to rebuild belief, an easier opening assignment is exactly what the doctor ordered.

The difference between first and second in a group can be the difference between a manageable last-16 tie and an early collision with a heavyweight.

How the result moves the odds

Belgium remain dark-horse contenders rather than favourites, and the sluggish group stage had nudged the market against them. Topping the group, even unconvincingly, buys them a more favourable route and tightens their pricing on a deep run.

The maths is simple. A softer next opponent improves the probability of progression, and the markets adjust accordingly. Whether the performances justify the optimism is another matter entirely.

Can this generation finally deliver when it counts?

This is the question that has trailed Belgium for the better part of a decade. The so-called golden generation rose to the world's No. 1 ranking and then failed to convert that talent into a single major trophy.

Every tournament since has carried the same subtext: is this the year they finally get it right, or another chapter in a story of unfulfilled promise?

Talent has never been the problem

Belgium have rarely lacked quality. What they have lacked is the ruthlessness to win the matches that define a tournament, the knockout fixtures where caution and quality collide.

Trossard's intervention suggests the match-winners are still there. The flat performances suggest the deeper issues have not been solved.

Relief, not arrival

Topping a group is a baseline expectation for a side with Belgium's resources, not an achievement to celebrate. The honest reading of three games is that they have done enough to advance without doing enough to convince.

If the knockouts demand more than one player can provide, and they almost always do, Belgium will need the rest of the side to show up. Quickly.

What happens next

Belgium head into the knockout rounds as group winners with a softer draw and a forward in form. On paper, the conditions for a deep run are in place.

The reality check arrives the moment they face a side that can match them. Two underwhelming group games against lesser opposition is not the form of a team built to go all the way, and a single match-winner cannot be expected to carry them every round.

The next fixture will tell us which Belgium turned up: the one Trossard rescued, or the one that needed rescuing in the first place.