TEAM PREVIEW: BELGIUM

Belgium - "Diables Rouges / Rode Duivels"

Overview: As bipolar as having two competing languages in a country is, so the national football team has been a mainstay of unity in Belgium. Incredible performances in the 80s, in 1994 (where Belgium were unlucky in one of the best matches in history versus Germany) saw Belgium have twenty years of a major quality drop.

Now after two decades of footballing wilderness, a diamond generation (as in Antwerp’s traditional craft) of super-talents and mega-egoists seems to have found their flow, and not only convincingly qualified for the World Cup, but managed to end up with expectations of winning Group H and being the “dark horses” of this tournament.

Lack of experience and weight of expectation is more often than not a bad match…. What will the Belgians of 2014 be remembered for?

The sky is the limit, but in their perennial rain Belgians don’t see the sky very frequently….

The objective: Win Group H without breaking a sweat, then stun the World and given the honest national and international hype around the Red Devils win the country’s first World Cup.

Highly unlikely given the lack of personality and leadership of the Red Devil’s young stars to match their significant football talents.

Population: 11.1 million persons per square meter, another zillion living long-term without permit of papers, many of whom are Eurocrats.

Ethnic Groups: no two inhabitants of Belgium share a single ethnic origin, what does matter is the language of your Belgianness, which can be Arabic, English, Portuguese, Kikongo, Russian, Farsi, Nepali or Quechua.

Registered Football Players: 443, 383 – most of these bought their registration papers at the Gare de Midi vegetable market.

Registered Football Clubs: 2,058

Most Successful Clubs: RSC Anderlecht (Flemmish speaking team) of Southern Brussels has dominated heavily in recent years with 33 titles. Their youth academy is responsible for large parts of the national team, together with the other big-two Standard Liege(Francophone)10 titles and Club Brugge (very flemmish) 13 titles although the last of these has had a very mediocre decade.

All Time Top Scorer: Bernard Voorhoof and Paul Van Himst each racked up 30 goals during different eras.

Other players cam close-ish at getting to that record, but current coach Marc Wilmots although not remembered for being extraordinary came closest with 28 goals. He is also Belgium’s top scorer in World Cups with 5.

World Cup Performance: This is Belgiums 12^th World Cup. A superb 4^th place in 1986 stunned the World and Belgium have a habit of getting out of their group at least. 123 matches played, 68 wins, 24 draws, 31 losses. 234 goals scored and 135 conceded…. Not bad.

Continental Performance:  Much worse. Only 4 Euro-cup outings, with a runners up spot in 1980.

Olympic gold was won at the 1920 summer Olympics in Antwerp.

How they get their calories: In large quantities. If you are flemmish you say Stoemp (always improvised refired mashed potatoes with vegetables, should be served with sausages) is the national dish of Belgium.

If you are Waloon you say chicon aux gratin is the national dish of Belgium.

Or you could meet in Brussels to join the tourists for Moules Frites.

Tired of the food debate? Both Wa-loons and flemm-nuts will happily join you for one of the country’s 1100 beers…

The national beer:  Every Belgian village has multiple breweries, many are one man breweries. If you are monk you brew, if you are a politician you brew, if you are a taxi driver you brew. There is no national beer in Belgium, only pretend ones like Duvel and Leffe for export.

Belgian beer can be divided into amber ales

golden ales

dubbels and trippels (referring to the amount of fermentations)

Flemish reds

lambics…. Which are spontaneously fermented out of the Brussels air, and whatever falls into the open vats. Surprisingly light and fluffy!

Loads of others (at least 10 more categories) but for a real connoisseur the Saison are often considered among the best you can find in the world.

From the anthem:

Since French is the Royal language of Belgium, la Brabançonne has traditionally been sung in French, although other versions exist, and many Belgians still refuse to utter French words.

Poummm pa ppouuum pa ppooouum (classic slow-tempo 19^th century marching music)

O Belgium - O mother dear -

To you we stretch our hearts and arms,

With blood to spill for you, O fatherland!

We swear with one cry - You shall live!

You shall live, so great and beautiful,

And your invincible unity

Shall have for device immortal -

The King, and Law, and Liberty!

Shall have for device immortal -

The King, and Law, and Liberty!

The King, and Law, and Liberty!

The King, and Law, and Liberty!

Interesting that even in French, the father and mother seem to be the same entity. The stuff about unity is funny… given that the country has several times nearly broken apart in recent years.

How to blend in with the fans: Only sing when you are winning…. In the early 2000s when I lived in Brussels the national team fans were often outnumbered by visiting fans, this was during a bad era. Now with a real star-studded generation a new fan culture has emerged, and the Red Devil fans are back in force.

Whigs to look like Fellaini or Witsel are very popular, horns or pointy tails to allude to the devilishness of the red devil thing also.

But, except for that brave handful that keep waiving the black, yellow and red when Turkish, French, Polish, English and Scottish fans turned Brussels games into home games, you can pretty much walk in, in English claim to be Belgian, make up the name of some Brussels suburb that sounds like, Klavebeek for instance or Anselgem or Biervuren or la Namtoise (sorry if I mentioned a real one) and talk about hating the Dutch and that the Germans were bad in World War Two.

If you are Belgian and feel offended by this post, write a letter, translate it officially in each of the official languages, have it notarized in Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders, translate the notary seal into each of the official languages, and then drop it into the smaller of the two mailboxes on place Flagey in Bruxelles between the hours of 7 and 715 in the morning on the eight Tuesday of the first decade of the next millennium.

Making fun of Belgium aside, Brussels was a fantastic place to watch a World Cup, because no matter who won or lost every night there were street celebrations with a different flavour, from Ghanaians, to Croatians to Turks and Italians.

The stereotype: Hercule Poirot

What their neighbours know: The Belgium is a politically chaotic, rainy, rather flat, overcrowded country….

…. Where you can really enjoy an unhealthy quality of life for a bureaucratic set of years with malfunctioning public transport, with bus drivers that tell you to go to hell and smash you in the door after they covered you with a murky tidal wave of water.

I defer to this blogger who says it all well.

Just when you think it cannot be more spiteful, a kind, warm, intelligent and friendly Belgium person does something to make you accept the place and get nostalgic… the perpetual cycle.

How they qualified:

Undefeated, with only 2 draws, Belgium stormed a not-easy Group A with Croatia, Scotland, Serbia, Macedonia and Wales.

Home draws against Croatia and Wales were the only points lost, and the Belgians had only 4 goals conceded, making them one of the best defences in the world during qualifiers.

Interestingly enough 11 Belgian players shared their 18 goals scored.

The sad: 

That twats like myself constantly complain about a country which actually wasn’t all that bad for 7 years of their life.

The happy joy joy:

The current team, Belgium are an untested powerhouse by all standards… the energy is amazing, how far can they go?

An overview:

Belgium have quality in all areas of the pitch, albeit young, inexperienced quality in much of it. Wilmots has the team firing on all 11 cylinders, and despite the key injury of Benteke the team doesn’t look noticeably weaker.

Team Strength: Balance, and creative surprise. Belgium on paper is a rather complete team, but there are ways to destabilize and beat them.

Creative explosiveness, good team cohesion and the ability to drive a game after an early lead are real strengths.

Team Weakness: No depth in attack, with all the work falling on Lukaku is the obvious weakness. Behind the stars there is a quality gap, in such places as right or left back for example.

Belgium seem to have a hard time coming back from behind, although this hasn’t happened so often lately.

I will say that I think some of these stars are overpaid, overconfident, and thinking they only have to show up and win. Despite playing for big clubs, the Hazards, Vermaelens, Fellainis and team have won very little yet, and have much to prove in Brazil.

Will the tremendous pressure to succeed break the thin fibers of this talented team?

The song: Just when Belgium stopped being a World footballing super-power in the early 1990s so did a fantastic band emerge in Brussels that inspired an entire generation to first smooches, and disco-romance. Technotronics are the perfect cheerleaders for today’s Belgian team, especially after a couple of Tripple-fermentation 12 degree beers.

The Goalkeeping Department: 8.9

A Champions League finalist in Courtois backed up by a Premier ship runner-up in Mignolet. There is more depth, and Belgium has some great shot stoppers in the current generation, even though the likes of the talented third-choice Keon Casteels is injured and won’t make the trip. There are 3-4 good Belgian goalkeepers such as Torino’s Gillet, or Leuven’s Logan Bailly.

Belgium has one of the best, and very young at that, goalkeeping teems in the world.

Defenders: 9.3

Although the real reason is tactics, a lot of cover in midfield for instance, the young but already-proven talent in Belgium’s defence cannot get anything but a very high score. Premiership fans will express doubt and admiration both at Vermaelan or Vertonghen, Alderweireld failed to break into the Atletico Madrid first team, but no one will question the huge contribution of Kompany to Man City’s title, or van Buyten towards Bayern’s golden era.

Their weakness as a unit might be that they play better at lower tempo. But with only 4 goals conceded in qualification it’s hard to tell.

The middle: 8.1

Not more. A lot of talent, but also some rather unstable and inconsistent performers like Fellaini, Witsel, de Bruyne means that everyone is actually waiting for the brilliant national team outings to come to an end sooner or later.

The talent is there, but so are the egos and red-card tendencies. They can keep possession, win the ball and score, but they are not good at dealing with high pressure and adversity. Half of the midfielders are considered talented failures at big clubs.

The attack: 8.8

After Benteke’s injury the attack is predictable. Chelsea’s silky-technical wizard Hazard gets all the attention but the team doesn’t rely on him. This World Cup is a big chance for muscleman Lukaku to show that with a big team behind him he is good enough for any opposition, and that he can be consistent.

The silent force in Belgium’s attack is Napoli’s left winger Dries Mertens, who has an outstanding 111 goals in 342 club games…. And is a very consistent threat, although often undervalued.

The coach:  8.0

Before taking over Belgium simple-football playing Wilmots would have rated as a 6 or 6.5 at best in anyone’s books. He is no tactical genius, he doesn’t carry a big bag of tricks, but he has transformed the talented Red Devils from an overrated gang of overpaid primadonas to one of the world’s most promising second-tier teams.

Belgium’s third all-time top scorer is a forgotten overachiever in football. A legend to Schalke 04 and Standard Liege fans the tall, strong, technical un-gifted attacking midfielder made a humble but solid squeak in 90s European football with over a hundred goals for both clubs.

He went into politics, but after parliamentary anarchy resigned his French-speaking senatorial seat. He returned to football and served as assistant coach to the National team with two failed managers Dutchman Dick Advocaat and later Belgian Georges Leekens. Frustrated about underperformances, and a terrible team atmosphere the Belgian FA appointed Wilmots as interim manager, on a very temporary and highly criticized basis…. Needless to say he completely turned things around, and catalysed the team into a fearsome and effective unit gaining himself a permanent contract in the process.

Wilmots’ Belgium is still undefeated in ten competitive matches, although they have more lost than won friendlies during the same period.  Is Wilmots a great manager? He is not the only international manager to come into a coveted job with no real background, but this World Cup is also first and foremost a test of his mettle.

  

The Tactics:

An interesting 4321 like the one France won the World with in 1998. Capture the ball, raise the tempo, and keep up the intensity but score on the break. Catch-and-counter against better opponents is likely, but dominant possession versus weaker teams is the norm.

(alternative)

The extra midfield screening of the defence means that the attackers can perform their work easily, the counterattack is always a threat, and there are interesting late runs into the box often happening for the Belgians. In fact 11 different players have scored 18 goals for Belgium during qualifying, and goals come on the counter, during a silky and clever build-up, or from set pieces.

The midfield three is interesting, because it consistents of very balanced players who are both good at winning the ball and key battles in midfield, and a speedy passer in Porto’s Defour who is probably the least well-known standard starting player in the squad.

Everybody knows…. Eden Hazard. He is a masterful player, and although you see his speed of movement live much more than on television, he is a game changer that always demands special attention from the opposition. Unlike other star players though, the Belgian team doesn’t seem to rely on him as much as all that for victories. His passing, dribbling and eye for goal are off course more than a value added, and Brazil 2014 could very well be a chance for Chelsea’s talented attacking midfielder/winger to write his name in to football history’s glory books.

Should be more famous….  Despite really nasty red cards and intentional injury to other players early in his career Axel Witsel at 25 is a top central midfielder. After success with Benfica, he was tempted by big money to Zenit St.Petersburg where he has not been stellar under pressure.

He is a real mainstay for Belgium, with super tackling, unproven but true long-range shooting ability, and a good ball distribution Witsel is one of the core names on the Belgian teamsheet, and reliable rumour has it he is high on van Gaal’s Manchester United shopping list for next season.

No one has heard off…  Divock Origi is the son of Kenyan international Mike Origi. A big, awkward player he comes in to the team as a possible sub for Lukaku with the absence of Benteke after scoring a modest 6 goals for Lille this season. Like Lukaku he can be technical, but can also have an awful first touch from time to time. His size, speed and power, as well as an incredible leap to add to his 185 cm are his biggest assets.

Unfulfilled talent: Kevin De Bruyne failed at Chelsea and had a public spat with Mourinho. 9 appeareances and only 1 assist gave him very little time to prove himself, despite a stunning 10 goals and 11 assists on loan to Werder Bremen. On January 18^th 2014 Wolfsburg swooped in with 18 million pounds and rescued him, he has rewarded them with 3 goals and 8 assists.

He is also the top Belgian scorer in qualifiers, with 4 goals. De Bruyne is a key man for Belgian, whether in the starting lineup, or more frequently on the bench.

Still going… the Bayern Munich defensive rock, Daniel Van Buyten is well over his controversial mistake-prone days. But footballing professionalism, bags of experience at the highest level have made him a survivor both with Bayern and with the National team under various managerial changes. At 36 he has 78 caps and 10 goals to his name, and is an experienced mainstay of the Belgian team.

Born in the French-speaking beer-capital of Chimay, he played more from the bench for Bayern this season in his 8^th season with the Bavarian super-club. The former Manchester City and Marseille man is likely to bow out after this season, can he add a memorable World Cup performance to an already prestigious, if not up and down, career?

The heart of the team…. Captain Vincent Kompany was a very key man in Manchester United’s title campaign, and a pivotal force of defensive stability and offensive contribution for Belgium during their undefeated qualifiers. At 28 he is hitting his prime, and he is as important to the team as Wilmots in his captaincy role.

Born in Uccle, Brussels, the son of a Congolese immigrant father, and a Belgian mother Kompany is a true Bruxellois.

The goalscorer.... Romelu Lukaku is another player who Mourinho seems to have severly underrated. He went on loan to Everton this season to bag an excellent 16 goals, more than any Chelsea striker managed, adding to his 17 on loan at West Bromwich Albion last year. With Cristian Beneteke out, Belgian fans will await his repeat performance to Zagreb, where he embarrassed the Croatian defence twice to qualify Belgium for the World Cup.

Powerful, always focused, he is a real poacher, and his physical presence makes him an important tactical element in the team.

The young star… Adnan Januzaj is in his breakthrough season, and the youngster’s superb play in Moyes’s Man Utd this season has been one of their few high points. A speedy, technical winger and attacking midfielder the 19-year-old was born in Brussels but eligible through family to play for Albania, Turkey through grandparents, Serbia due to his dad’s army papers, and England due to long-term residency.

In May 2014 the long-term controversy ended and the 4-professional-goal boy wonder, who might also prove overrated in the future after only 35 top-flight games chose to play for Belgium. He might still get cut from the Belgian team, simply due to the fact he is competing with many other players for the same spots.

In bad form this season…. Marouane Fellaini was born in the heart of middle class Brussels in Etterbeek to Moroccan parents, although he likes to poze and talk as a gangsta. A great season at Everton, saw Moyes bring him to United as basically his main signing, but he has failed to find the net, and failed to find the starting lineup in the embattled team.

Fellaini is important for Belgium, as he is big, scores aggressive goals with all parts of his body, is superb as a target for set pieces, but he also has a temper and attitude problem that could boil over if not carefully managed.

In great form this season…. Dries Mertens is always in great form, and the short (1.69cm) winger ends up being the secret weapon of every team he plays for, Napoli this season where he was among the best in Rafa Benitez’s team with 10 goals and loads of assists from left or right wing. Look for him to pull goals out of nothing, as he has scored on average a goal every three games, many from outside the box during his excellent professional career.

Keeper Thibaut Courtois has been a main man for one “dark horse” already this season, as he ended up really getting noticed with Atletico’s Madrid’s overachieving championship season. 

This is his third season on loan at Atletico, but this season will see him being fought over by half of Europe’s biggest clubs including Atletico and Chelsea, because he is considered nothing short of the World’s best young goalkeeper at the moment. If he stays focused for Belgium, his already sizeable price tag could shoot up more.

Candidate for discovery of the tournament…  Kevin Mirallas is another Belgian player whose excellent last 4 seasons with Olympiakos and Everton could mean he really makes a name for himself in Brazil 2014 if his performances carry on. He is a flexible winger who makes runs on both flanks, and scores many goals for club and country with a powerful shot. Sometimes he can shoot too much, but given the missiles he launches it’s understandable.

Recognized players left out… Roma’s highly-rated Radja Nainggolan lost his first team place and got left out of the squad this season, 

while Christian Benteke and his fast-paced goalscoring could possibly end up very missed by Belgium this summer.

The prospect of tomorrow… Thorgan Hazard is Eden’s younger brother, but some expect him to be even better in the coming years. 

As an attacking midfielder he scored the most goals in the Belgian Pro League with 18 this season, and won the footballer of the year award. Despite this he has been left in the store window by Wilmots and will not travel to Brazil. Football’s legendary sets of brothers like the Laudrups or De Boers have been joined by a new dynamic duo. Chelsea hold his papers, although he played on loan at Zulte Waregem this year.

Worth mentioning: Thomas Vermaelen, Nicolas Lombaerts and Toby Alderweireld are all top-shelf defenders.

Vermaelen especially is used by football coaches to describe a new breed of flexible defenders with loads of technical ability, although he could leave Arsenal this summer.

Alderweireld was a key man for Ajax but failed to impress for Atletico Madrid as much this season, although his off-the-bench play was often decisive in the Colchoneros late-game defending. He nevertheless managed to score 4 goals from set pieces. He plays at right fullback for Belgium.

Lombaerts is a bit forgotten in Western Europe after, but he is an important factor in Zenit St.Petersburg start studded team. He travels to Brazil as a backup, but this is sheer luxury for any team.

Steven Defour is a key man for Belgium, although relatively unknown internationally. He is a true box to box midfielder, with 174cm of sheer hard work and stamina. He has a great passing range, and is excellent at regulating tempo for Belgium and Porto.

The team called up (24 one will be cut): 

Courtois (Atletico Madrid and Chelsea), Mignolet (Liverpool) and Bossut (Zulte Waregem) (GK)

Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Vermaelen (Arsenal), Kompany (Man City), Vertonghen (Tottenham), van Buyten (Bayern), Lombaerts (Zenit), Vanden Borre (Anderlecht), Ciman (Liege) (DEF)

Witsel (Zenit), de Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Fellaini (Man Utd), Defour (Porto), Dembélé and Chadli (Tottenham) (MID)

Lukaku (Everton and Chelsea), E.Hazard (Chelsea), Mirallas (Everton), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Divock Origi (Lille), Januzaj (Man Utd) (FWD)

A great team moment: 

The 2-1 away win to Croatia in Zagreb which qualified the Belgians and saw a Croatian coach fired.

A legend:  There are several but Enzo Scifo who’s midfield quality was at the top of world class. The midfield wizard had perhaps his best days with Monaco 1993-1997.

Group H: 

Algeria (June 17th) in Belo Horizonte should be beaten, but should not be underestimated. An overconfident Belgium could be surprised easily here, because Algeria can both defend and score, and are in very good pre-world-cup form.

Russia (June 22th) is what many neutrals would call “the deciding” match of this group, although in truth it’s equally important for the Belgians. I expect a Belgian victory here.

South Korea (June 26th) in what shape will Belgium be when they come into their last match? South Korea works hard and runs fast, will Belgium take them seriously enough though? 

Pre-Tournament Friendlies:

Sweden in Stockholm June 1^st – should be a morale booster with a weak and old Sweden.

Tunisia in Brussels on June 7^th provides a great preparation match for Algeria, in perhaps an even tougher opponent.

United States on June 12^th is still to be confirmed, and seems like a bit much of an injury risk.

Belgium tied Ivory Coast 2-2 in March, and dispatched Luxembourg 5-1 on May 26^th.

Prognosis: 

Belgium should do well in World Cup 2014, but at least one French or Dutch style drama in the team is possible given the collection of personalities, although Wilmots really seems to have a handle on things.

Group H is one of the easier groups, but not as easy as it looks, and although Russia or Algeria are the most likely challengers it’s not impossible for Korea to prove a surprise package.

Can Belgium play themselves to the level of the great 1980s teams? Yes.

Is third place or more unachievable? No.

Will they? Let’s all pile on the pressure of expectation and see what happens.