Belgium have reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup, defying expectations after being widely discounted at the start of a tournament in which many of their long-serving stars had departed. Having trailed Senegal 2-0 before mounting one of the great World Cup comebacks, they followed up with a 4-1 win over hosts the USA, and now face Spain on Friday for a place in the semi-finals. The article examines whether the celebrated "golden generation" was written off too soon, or whether manager Rudi Garcia is simply deploying its survivors in a new way.

Four players remain from Belgium's 2014 and 2018 campaigns — Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne and Axel Witsel — but only the 34-year-old Courtois has played every minute, with the others used more sparingly as impact figures; the 33-year-old Lukaku has scored three goals from under half the available minutes, while De Bruyne was injured against Senegal. Younger and less heralded players have carried much of the load, including Arsenal's Leandro Trossard, who has created a tournament-high 17 chances, Charles De Ketelaere, Hans Vanaken and captain Youri Tielemans, who scored both goals in the Senegal comeback. Garcia has bristled at his leaders being labelled "veterans", insisting such quality should be celebrated, and Belgium appear to be managing the generational transition better than most.