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Belgium national team is brimming with a lot of quality players. They are blessed with exceptionally talented players across all areas of the pitch. Chelsea number 1 Thibaut Courtois will be keeping the goal, while ahead of him there are exceptional defenders in Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany, Barcelona’s Thomas Vermaelen, Tottenham Hotspur’s summer signing Toby Alderweireld and his team-mate Jan Vertonghen. The midfield has the likes of Axel Witsel, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Radja Nainggolan, Dries Mertens, Nacer Chadli and Mousa Dembele amongst others. Christian Benteke, Romelu Lukaku, Adnan Januzaj and Divock Origi provide potency up front – truly a golden generation for the Belgian national team.
They had a fairly easy ride through the qualifiers for the Euros as they finished atop group B ahead of Wales and Bosnia Herzegovina with a tally of 23 points from their ten games, and have been placed in group E in the tournament proper. Italy, Republic of Ireland and Sweden will keep them company in the group as the sides vie for a spot in the knockout stages of the competition.
The Red Devils look strong enough to seal their passage to the round of 16 as group winners, however, it will be hard to see them get past the Italians, who have a strong tactician in Antonio Conte. On the other hand, Marc Wilmots hasn’t really proven himself to be up to scratch and pundits have widely claimed that the Belgians are being let down by the lack of a good manager at the helm with Wilmots not good enough to get the best out of his talented squad.
Another concern for Belgium is the lack of quality full-backs in their ranks. Wilmots has been forced to play with centre-backs as full-backs and it is often not the best fit for his side as centre halves are reserved in their movements and it can often prove to undermine the attacking moves down the flanks.
All in all, Belgium have an extremely talented side that should be able to make at least the last four come summer.
Wasi is a keen fan with loads of knowledge about the game. He has written for some of the world’s leading soccer websites and is a major Barcelona and Pune City FC fan. He loves the Champions League and watches 200+ EPL games & La Liga games per season.