Hazard feels Belgium's golden generation's dreams not over

Belgium captain Eden Hazard was disappointed to see his team bow out of European Championship after a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Wales, but insisted his nation's golden generation of footballers still have immense winning quality.

Belgium's quarter-final on Friday got off to a dream start but ended in a nightmare after Radja Nainggolan put the favourites a goal up only for Wales to strike back three times on the way to a famous win.

The world's second-ranked side after Argentina, Belgium were tipped as the dark-horses at the Euro 2016 as their team boasts of several club stars. But they faltered in the quarter-final.

"In two years there is a World Cup. That's another objective, so we'll think about that, about qualification, then there's a Euro in 2020. We have a young team so we can be positive about the future," the Chelsea star was quoted as saying by goal.com after the loss.

"There is a lot of desire, a lot of contact, today we had a very young team. Youth is great but sometimes if you have a lack of experience it can show. We're going to keep working with the aim of winning things in future," the 25-year-old added.

"We lost against Italy, but I think we played three good matches against Ireland, against Sweden and against Hungary. So we will keep working together with this generation because it's a pleasure to work together and we will try to win things together."

However, Hazard was not surr whether chief coach Marc Wilmots will stay with him or not.

"There's a lot of pressure on him (head coach Marc Wilmots). We have had him as a coach for several years. We have had some great moments with him, some super moments with him," Hazard said.

"Today we have had a disappointment, but I think he will have a think, he will decide later if he wants to continue with us and if not, then we will wish him luck for the future."

--IANS

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