Distrust has changed sides. On the morning of July 10, 2018, as Belgium prepared to play the biggest match in the history of its national football team in the World Cup semi-final against France, the local press was already excited and thinking about victory. The Red Devils had just eliminated Brazil in the quarter-finals, and it was as if the hardest part had been done.
“We’re going to have them“, the Gazet van Antwerpen on the Flemish side posted on its front page. “I can not wait for tonight !” rejoiced Le Soir on the Walloon side. And doubt even seemed to have crept into the French locker room. Lucas Hernandez at a press conference before the match: “We know our strengths and we will try to play them by being very focused to beat them. It will not be easy, but for them it will not be easy either. It is 50/50 “
We obviously know what happened next and five years later everything has changed. In a podcast, Le Soir wonders if “does Belgium have its chances against France?“, while the Gazet van Antwerpen is already wondering about the future of the Red Devils coach Domenico Tedesco”whatever happens against France“. And the 50/50 also crossed Quiévrain: “We will have every chancehoped Thomas Meunier at a press conference this Thursday. It will be beautiful, but 50/50 if we show will and enthusiasm..”
Shock of generations
Because in the meantime, this Belgian national team has been seriously downgraded. The Red Devils have only been a figurehead in official competitions (quarter-finals at Euro 2021, eliminated in the group stage at the 2022 World Cup, only one final phase in the Nations League) since this defeat in the World Cup semi-final against France. And the selection has lost its place at the top of the FIFA rankings that it cherished so much, and especially a good part of its golden generation.
Arthur Theate and Jan Vertoghen during Belgium-Ukraine at Euro 2024
Credit: Getty Images
Eden Hazard, certainly the best player in the country’s history, has hung up his boots, as have Vincent Kompany, Moussa Dembélé, and Marouane Fellaini, all starters at the time. Others have aged and are no longer the players they used to be, but have not found a successor in this new Belgian generation, which is much less attractive than the previous one. In central defense, for example, the pair supposed to symbolize the future, Faes-Debast, was tested but not approved against Slovakia (0-1).
And it was finally the old father Jan Vertonghen, 37 candles under his belt and a starter in 2018, who had to recover his left axis. Meanwhile, symbolizing the gap between the two teams, France relies on two central defenders who had barely passed their baccalaureate during the World Cup in Russia, and had to rely on their memories to talk about this famous semi-final.I was in Saint-Etienne, it was my first season as a pro and I was still at the training center“recalled William Saliba at a press conference.”I think I was with my family, at home, supporting the Blues” smiled Dayot Upamecano just after his partner.
Whistled by their fans
Above all, this Belgian team showed nothing of the level of this 2018 collective, capable of murderous counterattacks but also of a confiscatory ‘tiki-taka’. The Italian Domenico Tedesco, in office since the beginning of 2023, “[veut] win against France” and would be wrong not to believe in his chances. The Belgian squad has kept some of its stars, Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku at the top, but at the start of the Euro, its defense is feverish, its midfield is faltering and its attack is in the midst of a crisis of confidence.
Because it’s not just because of the ageing of the squad that this Belgium is less frightening. After the Red Devils qualified for the round of 16 after a draw at the height of sadness against Ukraine on Wednesday evening, Kevin de Bruyne and his teammates were whistled by their supporters, and turned back as they were going to meet them. An absolutely chaotic event, and one more problem for the staff to manage.
There will therefore be demons to chase away and hopes to cling to for Belgium before the match on Monday evening. But be careful, the greatest trick of these Red Devils would be to make us believe that they are not going to exist. And in 2018, it was the team that was most suspicious that ended up winning.
