Belgium are defensive though and have enough quality in attack to catch them out on the break so I can see them knocking Argentina out.
We are indeed defensively sound, but I'm quite concerned about the amount of space we left between our DF & MF last night, if we play the same set-up and personnel we're going to get destroyed by Di María and especially Messi operating in that space (cf. the Bernábeu clásico this season where Ancelotti didn't go for containment). However, I've got confidence in Wilmots' ability to pick certain specific players for certain specific games/opponents/situations. We already excelled at that all the way throughout qualifying and our current run in the WC has seen that success continue, with his excellent handling of Vertonghen, Van Buyten, Kompany's injury problems and esp. the whole Lukaku/Origi situation (about which I've seen so much knee-jerk bullcrap posted in the matchday thread last night, it's hilarious).
Another example, while many were decrying the use of Fellaini in MF last night, it made quite a lot of sense (and I say that not at all being a fan of Fellaini ever since his first consistent run of brainfarts dating back to 2008, which cost us results against Spain and Germany in WC and EC qualifying most notably). His physicality was needed against an also extremely physical American MF.
That said, the game against Argentina should be one where he doesn't start (and if he does, definitely not as a nominal holding MF), because he won't be able to track Arg's explosive, more technical players without giving up foul after foul. The ideal solution to me would be to have Witsel and Defour as holders with the same 4 in front of them (Hazard, De Bruyne, Mertens, Origi -- keeping Lukaku as the ace up our sleeve for the 2nd half or ET). Wilmots has already used Defour (a squad player really) sparingly, but extremely efficiently in qualifying by having him start in both our games against Croatia (favourite to win the group) as a dedicated marker on Modric. He had him in his pocket for 180 minutes, I can tell you. I even think he set up Lukaku for the winning goal in the away game. I'm not sure whether he's suspended or not for the QF (he was sent off in the last group game), but he'll likely be low on confidence anyway.
So far the stand-out player has once again been De Bruyne for me, as he has been for the past 2 years. Courtois solid as always (we've never lost a game with him in goal, by the way! 21 and counting), Vertonghen excellently recovered after his poor showing in the opening game against Algeria where he gave away the penalty, Kompany and Van Buyten look an impressive pairing and even Alderweireld, despite clearly being the weakest link in DF, has stepped up at times.
Hazard has been incredible when you compare this to his usual form for the NT, he's been very good in the build-up (+2 excellent game-winning assists) and working extremely hard for the team as well. Origi is a revelation, came out of nowhere and played his way into the starting lineup in no time, offers more varied movement than Lukaku, looks a lot better technically as well. Credit to Lukaku though, after a tough time getting started in this WC, he showed the right spirit when he came on.
Comparatively disappointing have been Witsel and Mertens, two of our most influential and consistent players in qualifying, apart from a couple of halves of games. But I'm very happy with the overall performance from the team thus far.
@marcosdeto I'm hoping for an open game as well, mate!
