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 »
The infamous playoffs start this weekend. The top six (Standard Liege, Anderlecht, Racing Genk, Club Brugge, Lokeren and Zulte Waregem) will play each other twice in the next six weeks. The clubs start with half of the points gained in the “classic” season. So the clubs start as follows: Standard Liege 34 points, Club Brugge… Read More »
Tonight the Belgium U21 squad face Cyprus at Leuven. It’s their first match in the long road towards qualification for the 2015 U21 European championships in the Czech Republic. In the summer, the U21 squad looked rather weak but in the last few months with the emergence of players like Denis Praet, Massimo Bruno, Thorgan… Read More »
International friendlies were on the agenda last week and it’s hard for players, clubs or fans to get too excited for such matches. Belgium faced Slovakia on Wednesday but a more interesting fixture took place in Mechelen on the previous night when the Belgium U21 side faced Spain. The Belgian youngsters drew an entertaining game… 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 »
It’s just over halfway through the season proper in the Jupiler Pro League but as the ‘end-of-season playoffs’ count for 40% of points overall (points gained by the end of the classic season are divided by two), we’re just getting started in Belgium. No one likes the current system and this is probably the last… Read More »
Here’s a rundown of this week’s Cofidis Cup action in Belgium. The Cup rarely gets people excited but I have a feeling this year could be a vintage one. And don’t ask me why I think that. In the 16 matches, there were 13 winners from the First Division and they were joined by three… Read More »
Anderlecht have qualified for the group stages of the Champions League for the first time for six years. Two late goals – from Dieumerci Mbokani and Sacha Iakovenko – sealed the victory and made sure it was party time at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium. In truth, no one understood what new coach John Van… Read More »