Neighbours’ Day for some, the return of the Franco-Belgian rivalry for others, tired or even intoxicated by the famous “seum” repeated endlessly by the media since the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup lost to France, which would subsequently win its second star.
On the eve of the 76th match between Belgium and France in one hundred and twenty international years, while it all began on May 1, 1904 in Brussels, this duel has become a shock of European football. The difference is that the Blues have managed to reach the summits of world football while our golden generation will never have reached this grail.
guillementAt the beginning, it must be remembered that it was a match for friends, we even called it the “friendly” match.
If Belgium is the opponent encountered most often by France, it is the Netherlands who remain the Devils’ favorite opponents. And in 75 official meetings between Belgians and French, 30 went in favor of Belgium, 26 for the Blues and 19 games ended in a draw.
“In the past, this match symbolized Franco-Belgian friendship”
“But in official competition, Belgium has only eliminated France once, it was during Euro 1974recalls Patrick Baragiola, author of the book “Belgium VS France, 120 years of duels”. The Devils were then eliminated by Cruyff’s Netherlands. On the other hand, Belgium has won many more friendly matches than France in direct confrontation. And at the start, we must remember that it was the friends’ match, it was even called the “sympathetic” match in 1944 during the German offensive in the Ardennes. The Belgians went to Paris, which was quite exceptional given the context and the shortage of coal during a fairly harsh winter. Whether before or after the Second World War, this match symbolized Franco-Belgian friendship..
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A fraternal relationship which has been somewhat tarnished in recent years, particularly since the famous French victory in the semi-finals of the World Cup (1-0) six years ago, (very) badly experienced by some and often celebrated excessively by others. On both sides, this clash at the top will have left its mark, with the eternal regret on the Red Devil side of not having had the chance to see this golden generation be crowned with the ultimate grail.
guillementFranco-Belgian rivalry has always existed, it is a bit in our genes”
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“Somewhere, we saw after this match the arrogance pushed to the extreme on the French side and the feeling of inferiority increased tenfold on the Belgian side, with a “bad loser” side that lasted for a certain time, estimates Philippe Godin, professor of sports psychology at UCLouvain. The Franco-Belgian rivalry has always existed, it is a bit in our genes, but in a good-natured way until this match in 2018. The French media added ten layers to it, which excited some and irritated others and had the gift of irritating our patriotic susceptibility. The context could also be misleading because we were first nation in the world rankings for a long time except that it was mainly because we won friendly matches, so there was a certain overestimation of the level of the team among the young generation, who surely had expectations that were too high compared to reality and who may have been very disappointed afterwards“.
Whatever happens, Tedesco’s gang has the opportunity to avenge an entire country this Monday evening and to give themselves the possibility of dreaming even if the rest of the competition risks being a little more difficult given the Nations competing in this part of the table.
