Germany – Belgium preview

I’ve just realised that it’s exactly one year ago today that I started my blog. In that piece – and I’m not sure if anybody read it, I said – “If I have a touchstone (for writing this blog), it’s Timmy Simons … rather like the country, he’s self-effacing, reliable, multilingual, and he knows he’s never going to be a world leader. He knows his place and he’s made the most of his talents. Unlike Belgium, though, he is not at all quirky. The country is basically mad, with its seven governments, three national languages – not including English which many politicians use to talk to each other – and hundreds of different beers. Boring it is not and that is why I love football in this country. Sometimes watching a match is like going to a game in the 1960s in the UK, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s only Belgian football but I like it!

What’s changed in that year? Well Timmy Simons is still there and the team, although a tad more experienced, is under-achieving. There’s still no national government (although I didn’t mention that at the time) but the average man or woman in the street doesn’t spend much time worrying about that. Politicians of various shades have often talked of the country splitting along linguistic lines and it’s true that there are few occasions when the country is really united. Despite that, most Belgians would want to remain just that … Belgian. And one time when the country will be together will be tonight at 19.00 when Belgium plays Germany in the European Championship qualifying match. Belgium probably needs to win to stay in the hunt for a place in the finals.

My friend @TheBelgWaffle has done an excellent job of previewing the match over at http://thebelgianwaffle.co.uk but there’s more than football at stake tonight. La Dernière Heure has devoted its complete front page to pictures of the Belgian players under the screaming headline “IMPOSSIBLE N’EST PAS BELGE!” That just about sums up the mood of the country or rather how the country would like to feel.

Enter the Diables Rouges / Rode Duivels. The side that takes the field tonight will be roughly 50:50 French and Dutch native speakers and that’s ignoring the fact that many of them will be bilingual, trilingual or more. Although the Flemish press sometimes attacks a player from Wallonia – Daniel Van Buyten comes to mind – and Timmy Simons has few supporters in the south of the country, there are rarely reports of cliques in the national team. There are probably more problems of that nature in the English camp, as Paul Scholes recently revealed.

Tonight, all of Belgium will be willing their team on. If they lose, there will be no riots in the streets but more an acceptance of Belgium “knowing its place”. But if Belgium does succeed, it will be a victory for a united country, one that is a bit mad but is never boring … it’s only Belgian football but I like it!