World Cup

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Attendance: 64,286

World Cup | Semi-Finals

Jul 10, 2018 at 7pm UK

France
1-0
Belgium

Umtiti (51')

FT(HT: 0-0)

Thomas Vermaelen: 'Belgium not content with reaching World Cup semi-finals'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor

Published: July 8 2018 | 19:00

Last updated: July 9 2018 | 19:19

Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen insists that his side will not be content unless they lift the World Cup, having made it to the semi-finals.

Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen has insisted that his side are not content to have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup.

The Red Devils have won all five of their World Cup matches so far this summer, knocking out pre-tournament favourites Brazil in the last round to set up a semi-final showdown with France.

Belgium have never made it to the final of the World Cup before and are already guaranteed to at least equal their best-ever finish, but Vermaelen's ambition is to go all the way and lift the trophy.

"Our ambition goes further than reaching the semi-finals," Vermaelen told reporters.

"We can be proud so far of how we've performed in this World Cup - reaching a semi-final is a big achievement but we want to go further and don't give up. We have to believe in our chances to get to the final and eventually win it.

"Everyone's talking about [Kylian] Mbappe at the moment. He's having a good tournament, the qualities he has, he can change a game within a split second. But they have more qualities. Even when he got changed you have [Ousmane] Dembele who can come on. I know him very well and he can be very dangerous.

"[Olivier] Giroud has different qualities and can be very dangerous in the box. [N'Golo] Kante in the middle of the park who is very, very important. For me at the moment it would be Mbappe who is the strongest. It's difficult to pick out one player who can change a game, but it's probably Mbappe."

The winners of Belgium's match against France will face either England or Croatia in the World Cup final.