LYON, France -- Monday night's game a case of yin and yang. A Belgium side brimming with individual talent and a fairly basic off-the-rack scheme against perhaps the least gifted Italy side (certainly in midfield and attack) in the last 50 years turning to sophisticated tactics and coordinated exotic movements.
On this night, scheme -- with some help from its long-time friends, Mr. Workrate and Miss Savvy -- beat talent.
Marc Wilmots lined up the way you would expect with four center-backs, two of them (Laurent Ciman and Jan Vertonghen) deployed out wide. Depending on where you stand, his insistence on shoe-horning the biggest veteran names into the lineup even as square pegs in round holes is either a sign of loyalty or an inability to find a system that works with lesser fullbacks.