The morning after: What went wrong for Belgium during their 0-0 draw with Iran at the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

It was another disappointing day for fans of the Belgian national team on Sunday. After Belgium drew 1-1 with Egypt in their opening game, many hoped that Rudi Garcia’s men would kick start their tournament with an expected win over Iran. Despite creating plenty of chances, the side failed to score and now face a must win game against New Zealand to progress to the next round of the 2026 World Cup. They will once again be favourites, but that was also the case against both Iran and Egypt. So, what went wrong for Belgium against Iran? And what needs to be done for the must win clash with New Zealand?

Changes failed to bring about desired result

Rudi Garcia certainly didn’t sit on the fence for this game. He brought in Nicolas Raskin, Maxim De Cuyper and Alexis Saelemaekers to try and shake things up. Raskin and Saelemaekers struggled to have any real impact on the game. De Cuyper on the other hand did have a few chances to score, coming closest when former Antwerp goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand produced the save of the game.

Romelu Lukaku clearly isn’t fit

Lukaku had a huge impact coming off the bench last game, and in the hopes of forcing a result Garcia gave him a start. Prior to the game, the head coach of Belgium said he would only play between 45 and 60 minutes. Clearly, Garcia hoped that Belgium would be comfortably ahead by then. Lukaku played 73 minutes and it was clear he wasn’t fit. His touch was poor and he wasn’t able to get shots off that he usually does for the national team. However, Garcia simply has to play Lukaku against New Zealand as he remains the sides best chance of scoring a goal.

Nathan Ngoy’s red card

Ngoy really should not have been sent off. The defender was more than capable of catching up with Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi, yet decided to haul him down instead. This World Cup has already shown that red cards will be given for such challenges where a player is clean through on goal, even if its nearer the half way line. Ngoy will learn from this, but it certainly didn’t help Belgium in trying to create chances. They still did, but with 11 men they could have really heaped the pressure on Iran.

Time to start Dodi Lukebakio?

Lukebakio came off the bench and almost scored a wonderful goal, with his angled shot going just wide. While he has struggled domestically this season, Lukebakio has a fantastic record for Belgium. He has been one of their biggest goal threats in recent months and its time Garcia gave him a start. No one has scored for Belgium at this World Cup yet, so Garcia has to change something going forward. If Doku is back, it might mean having to drop Leandro Trossard, even if he did play a lot better than in the opener against Egypt.

Thibaut Courtois remains key

Despite their man advantage, Iran didn’t really do enough to win the game. They did find the net through Taremi in the first half through a clever free kick routine, only for VAR to adjudge the striker to have been offside by the narrowest of margins. In the second half, Courtois pulled off a world class save to deny the striker from point blank range, a reminder of how good the Real Madrid man is and how important he is to Belgium.

Belgium should still be confident of getting out of the group, but they have made it far more difficult for themselves. Failure to progress would almost certainly see Garcia relieved of his duties after the tournament is over. If Belgium can make it through, they should try to distance the group stages from their minds and reset. Once the knock out stages begin, the real tournament also begins. We have seen in the past that tournaments can feel completely different once the spectre of elimination is looming. Belgium just need to pray that something clicks against New Zealand and can be carried over into the next rounds.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson