After the defeat to volleyball superpower Brazil, the task of the “Yellow Tigers” was clear in their last group game against China, ranked fifth in the world. Belgium had to trick 3-1 or 3-0 to get into the World Cup quarter-finals.
Against top two countries Italy and Brazil, the Tigers have already shown in this World Cup that they can compete for the absolute world top. He won the first set twice, but this time the start was more difficult for the Belgians.
The Belgian reception turned square, and often wrong choices were made during the preparation. Powerful China can count on their impressive midfielder and corner striker Wang to comfortably take the first set: 25-18.
The Tigers were standing up against the wall, as they now had to win three straight sets to qualify for the quarter-finals. That miracle never happened. The Belgians haven’t been up to their level in the past few days and China has also been pretty big in Group B.
So the quarter-finals were not played for the Tigers, who nonetheless gave their best in the third set. Until the end, Belgium still struggled to win the group, but in the end it was China that took the lead again.
In any case, Belgium can look back on a wonderful World Cup, the best in the history of the Tigers. Depending on the result of the Netherlands against Japan, the Belgians finished ninth or tenth, and were better than eleventh at the 2014 World Cup.
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