Belgium urged to 'write history' against Argentina

Belgium coach Marc Wilmots has called on his players to make history on Saturday as they attempt to reach their first World Cup semi-final since 1986.

The Red Devils face Argentina in the quarter-finals in Brasilia (17:00 BST).


The last time Belgium reached the last four they lost to a team inspired by Diego Maradona, but Wilmots wants his side to play attacking football despite the threat posed by Lionel Messi.


"We can write history," Wilmots said. "We're going to play our own game."


He added: "We won't just defend. We play compact football and we don't leave a lot of space. We have to attack and defend together."

Wilmots said his players must not become fixated with the threat posed by Messi, despite the Barcelona forward scoring four and creating two of the seven goals Argentina have scored in the tournament.


Messi set up Angel Di Maria's extra-time winner in the last 16 against Switzerland, whose coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said it would be wrong to consider Argentina a one-man team.


"I think Ottmar Hitzfeld is right," added Wilmots. "People tend to focus on Messi, and rightly so, but I watched the Argentina-Switzerland match and the team is not just Lionel Messi. It's a whole."


Argentina manager Alejandro Sabella also denied his team are overly reliant on Messi, as they attempt to reach a first World Cup semi-final in 24 years.

"Four years ago Messi was criticised for not contributing enough, and now people say we depend too greatly upon him," he said. "Any team who has a player like Messi in their ranks - he's the best player in the world - will greatly depend upon him.


"But there's a group of players who support Messi, who make him stronger. I believe the fact he's done what he has here is down to the work the team puts in.


"The winning goal against the Swiss the other day came about because a forward, Rodrigo Palacio, who was playing in midfield, closed down the space and helped us win the ball back. You have to work to create the spaces for players like Messi to thrive. If we hadn't had Palacio playing, we wouldn't have scored that goal."


Striker Sergio Aguero trained at Estadio Nacional on Friday and will be on the bench against the Belgians.

Gonzalo Higuain is expected to retain his place, and Sabella said: "In the last match he ran more than anyone else, sacrificing himself for the good of the team. We all have confidence in him because he's a great player and he's doing his job for the team."


Sabella also attempted to temper expectations in his homeland.


"People in Argentina always believe we are more than we are," he added.


"Sometimes that's good. At other times, it's bad.

"When I was growing up I always heard people saying we were the best team in the world, but we'd never been world champions at the time. And yet we were the best? It's part of our culture to think this way.


"It has been a long time since we were in the semi-final but we have confidence we can progress." Sabella acknowledged "judgments are made on results".


He added: "If you win you are extraordinary, a phenomenon. If you lose, you're useless. The one who finishes first did everything right, the one who finishes second did everything wrong.


"So far we've won four tight matches. We are looking for an improvement in terms of performance, yes, but these tournaments are harder than ever."