Belgium’s ageing stars come under fire after Iran stalemate

BRUSSELS: Belgian media on Monday lambasted the Red Devils’ lacklustre scoreless World Cup draw against Iran, with the team’s ageing stars drawing scorn from newspapers.

“Shameful” Flemish daily Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) titled after the disappointing Sunday performance in Los Angeles. “They can’t even beat Iran!”.

The Dutch-language publication particularly criticised attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, 34, and his long-time striking partner Romelu Lukaku, 33.

A digitally-aged image of the pair with grey hair and beards was used to top an article titled “The World Cup retirement home”.

The frustration for having failed to beat what on paper was a clearly inferior opponent, bridged the country’s linguistic divide.

French newspaper La Libre described de Bruyne’s performance as “dismal”, comparing him to a “has-been” Hollywood actor who would take any role “just to stay relevant”.

Coach Rudi Garcia was attacked for not subbing out his star earlier, while daily Le Soir pinned blame on centre-back Nathan Ngoy, who was sent off after a blunder with about 30 minutes left on the clock — causing Belgian hopes to go “up in smoke”.

“The Devils at a dead end” the paper titled.

With only two points in two games Belgium will need a strong performance against New Zealand on Friday to avoid group-stage elimination for a second straight World Cup.