Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco said he will analyse his team's frustrating Euro 2024 campaign "in a few weeks" after their last 16 exit, while captain Kevin de Bruyne left his future in the team open.
"An hour after the final whistle and conceding a late own goal, it's hard to go into an analysis. We will analyse everything at this Euro in a few weeks," he told a news conference on Monday.
Belgium were eliminated from the tournament after defender Jan Vertonghen scored a late own goal to hand France a 1-0 win and a spot in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
"It's difficult to go into detail tonight. We saw France had trouble defending behind their line. They were really high. We wanted to play with three forwards to attack the spaces in behind. That was the main idea," said Tedesco, who has a contract until 2026.
Belgium have lost all five major tournament games against France, including a 1-0 loss in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals. Monday's disappointment follows a group stage exit at the 2022 World Cup.
Belgium finished third in 2018 and were praised for their golden generation, led by De Bruyne and then team-mates Eden Hazard and Vincent Kompany.
They arrived in Germany unbeaten since Tedesco took charge in February 2023 but leave as a big disappointment, failing to score in three of their four matches, and their only victory a 2-0 against Romania.
"We pressed Slovakia and Romania high. Ukraine as well, but the players had it on their minds that if they let in one goal, they'd be out. To think that (Romelu) Lukaku goes home without a goal after how he performed… it's a pity," Tedesco said.
Lukaku could have added his name to the scoresheet, but he had a hat-trick of goals disallowed by VAR.
The tournament in Germany has felt like one final throw of the dice for Belgium's golden generation, with the likes of De Bruyne and Lukaku now into their 30s.
Asked about a potential retirement, De Bruyne only said: "I have to digest it first of all."
Tedesco said: "He knows how important he is. He knows my opinion. It's difficult now after the game to ask Kevin De Bruyne this kind of question."
De Bruyne said he did "everything I could to help the team" securing at least one more game at this Euros.
"This is not what we wanted, but although we were not one of the favourites, I think we let ourselves down in the match against Slovakia," he said, referring to the shocking 1-0 defeat in the first group match.
