Eighteen months ago, Belgium lost to France in the Krestovsky stadium in Saint Petersburg. It was a crushing defeat and some observers felt that this generation had thrown away their last chance of winning a major trophy. Now Roberto Martinez’s team are back and although there’s a long way to go before the final of… Read More »
Belgium face Cyprus tonight in their final World Cup qualifying match. With tickets for Russia guaranteed, all eyes will be on Jan Vertonghen – who will become the most-capped Belgian international (97 caps) – and on the number of goals that Belgium score. Belgium have scored 39 so far in these qualifying rounds, while the… Read More »
Highlight of the tournament Toulouse was the location for the highpoint of Belgium’s EURO 2016 campaign. Hungary were the opponents and it was the only time in France that Marc Wilmots’ men turned on the style. The first half was fairly even but after Belgium took the lead, Hungary threw caution to the wind and… Read More »
As an aside, the first thing we learned is that I should stop forecasting. OK, I said it would be a draw but I felt there would be goals. End result: nine shots on target – the total from both teams. Apart from that, what struck me early on in the game was that Eden… Read More »
Belgium face Wales on Sunday and you’d expect an air of confidence about a team placed fourth in the FIFA rankings facing one in 34th position. But it’s not quite like that. Although Marc Wilmots’ men defeated Iceland 3-1 on Wednesday, both the coach and the performance were heavily criticised. Wilmots rested several players (most… Read More »
On May 13, Marc Wilmots will announce his ‘pre-selection’ of players who could go to Brazil. The final squad of 23 will be divulged to the public on June 2. Prior to the final group being announced, Belgium will play two friendlies, against Luxembourg and Sweden. After the announcement, Belgium will play Tunisia on June… Read More »
Belgium go into back-to-back matches with Macedonia and the country expects. The exploits of the 10 Belgians in the Premier League have not gone unnoticed – just the opposite in fact. The Saturday night football programmes tend to start with ‘Belgians abroad’ before turning to the domestic fare. The stadium will be packed on Tuesday… Read More »
It’s been a typical week in the world of Belgian football, both on and off the field. There’s been lots of talk about red cards and suspensions, one player who wants to be a ‘Red Devil’, another who seems a little unsure about his future and another who is seen as a saviour for his… Read More »
Back in September, I wrote a piece on the blog that looked at Marc Wilmots’ embarrassment of riches in midfield. I reasoned that he had eight candidates for the five places – for argument’s sake let’s assume that the Belgian team lines up in a 4-5-1 formation. At the time I wrote that “De Bruyne… Read More »
Marc Wilmots used 15 players in the games with Wales and Croatia. Here’s my view of how the players fared in the two matches. Thibaut Courtois: Hardly tested in the two matches; made important saves and interventions when necessary. He’s there to stay. Guillaume Gillet: Superbly taken goal against Croatia but he’s not a full… Read More »