Belgian captain admits candid debate but denies rifts within team

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DOHA — Belgian captain Eden Hazard has denied there are rifts in his team, but candid words were exchanged between players after a surprise World Cup Group F 2-0 loss to Morocco on Sunday. I acknowledged that

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Hazard told media on Tuesday after replacing the originally scheduled players of Yannick Carrasco and Arthur Teate alongside experienced goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

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This was a move by team management to quell growing speculation that many players had dropped out.

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World No. 2 Belgium will almost certainly need to beat Croatia on Thursday to advance to the Round of 16.

“We had a good talk among the players,” Hazard said. “He said a lot. We talked for an hour about what was good and what was not. Now we want to beat Croatia. Now he has two days to prepare. We have to prepare. I have to.”

Hazard has denied there was a confrontation in the dressing room after the loss to Morocco, with midfielder Kevin De Bruyne reportedly saying the Belgian side are too old to win the World Cup. He said he spoke with Kevin De Bruyne after the incident.

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“Nothing happened in the locker room,” Hazard said. “Only the director (Roberto Martinez) spoke. I spoke with Kevin De Bruyne and he believes in the group.”

Hazard admitted his players were disappointed with their performance in their first two games in Qatar.

“We have to do better. We can’t deliver the performance we want (at the moment). We have to show that on the pitch, that’s the point,” he said.

“We still have quality in the group and we are here to win.

Courtois, who will reach 100 caps against Croatia, claimed reports of rifts in the camp were actually energizing his team.

“The problem is that too many lies are being spread. They describe situations that don’t exist. As a group, we need to avoid that negativity,” he said.

“Yesterday, everything became clear. Everyone spoke up. Now we have to take action on the ground. We talked about it.

“We have to be honest with each other and fight for each other on the pitch.”