One day after Gerardo Martino confirmed that he would not continue to be the coach of Mexico after being eliminated from the 2022 Qatar World Cup, from Europe, a colleague of 'Tata' joined him in the line of unemployed: Roberto Martinez, who was the coach of Belgium.
On Thursday, shortly after the draw against Croatia that left the Red Devils without qualifying for the round of 16, the Belgian federation announced the news.
"Roberto Martinez has announced that he will no longer be the national coach of Belgium," was the succinct statement from the organization on their social media. With his departure, the Spanish coach ended a six-year tenure in the position.
Roberto Martinez had taken office in 2016. Photo: capture from @RoyalBelgianFA
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However, 'Bob' justified his decision by ruling out that his departure is specifically due to this result, as he claimed that it was a measure he had already considered beforehand.
"This was my last game. It's very exciting... I can't continue. I said goodbye to the players and the staff. Even if we had become world champions, I had planned to leave. I made that decision just before the World Cup," he declared in a press conference.
Belgium disappointed in Qatar 2022
With their early elimination from the tournament, the Belgian national team becomes one of the disappointments of this edition of the World Cup. Despite having stars of the caliber of Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne, and Romelu Lukaku, the Red Devils had to resign themselves to leaving in the group stage. It was a very discreet performance compared to Russia 2018, the tournament in which they reached third place.