Wilmots puts Belgium back to work to ‘raise the bar’

Belgium's coach Marc Wilmots is done celebrating and has his team focused on Argentina. Yves Herman / Reuters

SALVADOR // Given little time to celebrate their win over the United States at the World Cup finals, Belgium on Wednesday went straight back to work, as coach Marc Wilmots said he wanted to "raise the bar higher".
"Now that we are in the quarter-final we have got to try and go all the way," said the coach as his side looked ahead to their meeting in the last eight with Argentina in Brasilia on Saturday.
"This generation is writing its own page in the history of Belgian football and has already shown its potential. I have placed the bar high for my guys but now I'm going to make it even higher. I'd prefer we raise our objectives rather than seek to be comfortable.
"What we are going to do is ensure that we play at a high level. We have to literally burn ourselves out." Belgium squeezed through a thrilling two-hour contest with the US in their last-16 tie in Salvador on Wednesday, creating 27 chances in an overwhelming display and yet clung on precariously to a 2-1 lead at the end of extra time as both teams left nothing on the pitch.
"There is not much time for recovery and we've got to plan now for Argentina," Wilmots said.
The meeting with a side dominated by Lionel Messi has parallels with Belgium's last significant World Cup performance, when they reached the 1986 semi-finals only to be mesmerised by Diego Maradona as Argentina beat them 2-0 in Mexico City.
"We are not working on Messi, we'll be challenging Argentina as a block. Switzerland showed how to play against them, they had a very good game," Wilmots said of the 1-0 defeat by the Swiss to Argentina in their last-16 game in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.
Wilmots, who has not lost a competitive game with Belgium since taking over in 2012, said his side can find success against an "unbalanced" Argentine side.
"I saw an Argentina side playing with three centre-backs, two fullbacks pressing up high and (Angel) Di Maria given a free rein. But I also saw a lack of balance at times," he said.
Belgium put on a much better showing in the knockout round after cruising through the group phase but their finishing was an area for concern as they failed to turn a dominant showing on Tuesday into a runaway triumph.
"But we made a lot of chances because we played good football," Wilmots said. "Argentina will be different because they have good defenders. I want to see what we can do but I have ideas in my head already, don't worry."
He said defender Thomas Vermaelen would return from a hamstring injury for Saturday's game and midfielder Steven Defour would be back from suspension.
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