Belgian coach Vercauteren quits after World Cup flop

Franky Vercauteren quit as Belgium coach on Wednesday following his team’s embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Armenia which ended their hopes of reaching the World Cup finals.

“I don’t feel like continuing,” Vercauteren was quoted by the Le Soir website in the aftermath of the Group Five match.

“I wanted to have 24 hours to think about it, but that would have achieved nothing. I prefer to stop straightaway,” added the former Belgian playmaker, who was part of the side that reached the 1986 World Cup semi-finals.

Since the axing of previous coach Rene Vandereycken in April, Vercauteren had been keeping the seat warm until Dutch coach Dick Advocaat took over the reins on January 1, 2010.

Belgium, who had lost 5-0 to European champions Spain on Saturday, are fourth in the group with seven points from seven matches, 14 points behind the Spanish.