golden generation football teams come around every few years and mostly leave with one thing in common absolutely nothing in terms of trophiesthe wizardry of luis figo the artistry of rui costa the guile of dennis bergkamp the steel of jaap stam the tenacity of frank lampard the magic of paul scholes the bravery of vincent kompany the trickery of eden hazard the brilliance of juan roman riquelme the absolute everything of lionel messi all these great players share infamy they were all part of a golden generation that never really stood up and made themselves count when it mattered the most and these are just a few of the illustrious names the whos who of modernday football have been unable to shrug off the curse of being tagged as the golden generation david beckham ashley cole edgar davids sergio aguero wayne rooney javier mascherano carlos tevez and edwin van der sar all collected medals and trophies for fun for their clubs but never managed to replicate that success on the international level its not a new phenomenon the golden generation of the masterful netherlands team of the early and mid70s under the father of total football rinus michels was also meant to be the one the netherlands at the 1974 world cup were in swashbuckling form and swatted everyone aside they beat argentina in the second round and knocked out the defending champions brazil in the quarter finals in all scoring 14 goals in the first six matches and conceding just one they lost to west germany in the final and the socalled golden generation faltered at the final hurdle the real measure of successsome might argue that winning international tournaments isnt an easy task and the number of opportunities is limited and come once every two to four years in the form of the africa cup of nations the world cup or the european championships take the case of the belgium golden generation that crashed out of the qatar world cup in a tame fashion the belgium golden generation was one that was heralded at the start of the 2014 world cup in brazil eden hazard was 22 as was kevin de bruyne the defence was marshalled by the likes of vincent kompany toby alderweireld and jan vertonghen all in their mid20s they had a 21yearold romelu lukaku who had just started making a name for himself in the premier league thats just a few names as belgium had players plying their trade in the top clubs in europe greatness beckoned the sky was the limit and whatnotbelgiums french assistant coach thierry henry consoles forward romelu lukaku after 2022 world cup exit afp photobelgium actually did relatively well in the 2014 world cup inexperience came to the fore when they crashed out against argentina who had lionel messi pulling the strings argentina were not that great but belgium were insipid and couldnt rise up to the occasion going down to the albiceleste in