'Success should be achieved from the golden generation'

Hazard, who has led Belgium since 2015, does not want to be swept away by a third-placed finish at the 2018 World Cup. His goal is to surpass his best achievement in the history of the World Cup.

Belgium is in a complicated group in the World Cup in Qatar. Joining them in Group A are last season's runners-up Croatia, ever-improving Morocco and surprise qualifiers Canada. Belgium will start the group stage with a match against Canada on November 23.

In an interview with FIFA.com, Azar spoke about his thoughts on the World Cup in Qatar, his goals, the title of 'Golden Generation'. There is an image of a forward standing on the solid ground of reality.

“No (I don't consider myself the golden generation). I think when we win something, we can say that. Of course we have incredible players, but we haven't won anything yet."


"I think we still need to do something (succeed) if we really want to be called the 'golden generation'."

Many like Hazard, Mertens, Witsel have experience of playing more than 100 matches for Belgium. Azar believes that this experience will be useful in Qatar.

“We're lucky to have a group on our team who really know each other well over the years. There is always talk of a 'golden generation', there is some truth to it. We have spent almost 10 years together, and now we have young players in our team as well.”

“Our collective experience has come in handy over the past few seasons. So I hope it will continue in the same way for some more days to come.”


Belgium went out of the World Cup four years ago after losing 1-0 in the semi-finals to France. They beat England 2-0 in the third place match; Azar doubled the lead after Tama Munye put the team ahead. That memory is still vivid in the mind of this forward of Real Madrid.