ngland finished fourth with a 2-0 loss to Belgium at the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the Saint Petersburg Stadium on Saturday.
England were on top for most of the second half but with captain Harry Kane looking tired, Belgium’s greater sharpness in the final third proved decisive.
“This game showed there is still room for improvement,” said Harry Kane after the match.
“We’re not the finished article, we’re still improving and will only get better. We don’t want to wait another 20 years to get into the semi-finals and the big matches. We need to improve, we need to get better but that will come,” he said.
England coach Gareth Southgate said he was proud of his player’s performances throughout the tournament.
“I’m proud of what the players have done, today was always going to be a really difficult game. We played one of the best teams in the world with individual talent which is incredible and we had only two days to get ready,” he said.
Belgium were handed bronze medals but skipper Vincent Kompany wondered if his team should have had a better ending to the tournament.
“We were very close to the final, which I think we would have won. But this is also beautiful. A present for our fans. We played seven matches and won six,” he said.
“It’s all about that achievement. I think these players deserve that,” said Belgium coach Roberto Martinez.
“What we have seen in this World Cup is that the players did not want to rely on talent anymore, they wanted to rely on working as a team, becoming a group of players that would do anything to achieve results”.
Meunier scored in the fourth minute, knocking a cross from Nacer Chadli past England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Hazard added the other off a pass from Kevin De Bruyne in the 82nd.
Toby Alderweireld denied England’s best chance of the game, sliding on the goal line to clear a shot from Eric Dier.
England, which lost to Croatia in the semifinals on Wednesday, matched its best World Cup result – fourth in 1990 – since winning the tournament for the only time in 1966.
France and Croatia will play in the final on Sunday at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Belgium’s previous best finish at the World Cup was fourth, but the team outplayed England in the midfield to go one better this time.
The Belgians could easily have scored more, with Pickford making a good save to stop a shot from De Bruyne in the 11th and Alderweireld volleying narrowly over the bar in the 35th.
England made set pieces the cornerstone of its run to the World Cup semifinals and created chances for Harry Maguire and Dier in the second half. Neither hit the target with their headers.
It was the second time England and Belgium met in this year’s tournament. In the group stage, both teams had already qualified before Belgium’s 1-0 win in Kaliningrad.
FRESH LEGS
England coach Gareth Southgate made five changes to face Belgium, but Danny Rose and Fabian Delph made little impact while Dier started slowly but threatened in the second half.
Phil Jones failed to intercept the pass which led to Hazard’s goal.
The two replacements in Belgium’s lineup were more effective. Meunier scored and Youri Tielemans dominated the midfield.
GOLDEN BOOT
England forward Harry Kane is still placed to win the Golden Boot with a tournament-leading six goals ahead of Sunday’s final.
Kane last scored in England’s win over Colombia in the round of 16. On Saturday, he slipped as he shot wide in the first half, then failed to make contact with Jesse Lingard’s cross early in the second.
Romelu Lukaku couldn’t add to his four goals for Belgium and was substituted shortly after misjudging a through ball by De Bruyne.