Six years after the World Cup semi-final lost by the Red Devils against the Blues, Belgium dreams of a revenge this Monday, in the round of 16 of Euro 2024. Since then, the selection has undergone many changes, and some do not have enough to reassure Belgian supporters.
A headed goal in the 51st minute, Samuel Umtiti breaking his stride while celebrating, and declarations full of frustration from Thibaut Courtois. It’s a long way away, this World Cup semi-final won by the Blues in 2018, but the memories are still just as fresh. The French experienced an evening entered into the pantheon of French football. The Belgians, for their part, have not all digested… not helped by their neighbors who have continued to criticize them at every opportunity for six years.
What if it was time for revenge for the Red Devils? This is not at all the same team that the Blues will find this Monday. Overview of the changes that have affected the Belgian selection at all levels since 2018.
A golden generation approaching its end
Eden Hazard as boss, a Kompany-Alderweireld hinge, Dries Mertens coming off the bench… The team lined up by Belgium in 2018 didn’t have many equivalents. A “golden generation” like the flat country had never known. “It was a golden generation but I look at the results achieved: the (trophy) cabinet is empty”, qualifies Philippe Vande Walle, international from 1988 to 1999. “They had experience, which today’s guys don’t have, that’s the biggest difference”, continues the former goalkeeper.
Today, the technical leader and captain is called Kevin De Bruyne, but Eden Hazard has not yet been forgotten. “He was the captain, so yes, he was the one who carried the team, but football is above all a team,” assures Ethan Hazard, Eden’s brother, a center forward at Royale Union Tubize-Braine in the third division.
“When you lose a player of this calibre, it is felt in the national team,” continues Olivier Lagendries, sporting director of RUTB where Eden Hazard played when he was younger. “Now there are good players, but Eden was Eden.”
New talents emerging
Fortunately for the Belgians, the golden generation has not left a void. Already because some key players like De Bruyne, Lukaku or Vertonghen are still there, but especially because the young arrivals confirm the new place of Belgian football in Europe.
Starting with Jérémy Doku (22 years old), twirling on the wing, and author of a successful first season at Manchester City. Amadou Onana took off at Lille then in the Premier League at Everton. Also at 22, he is already one of the bosses of the Red Devils in the middle, where Youri Tielemans is still present.
And then there is one who is less well-known in France, but whom Didier Deschamps’ men will surely be wary of: Johan Bakayoko (21 years old), author of 12 goals and 9 assists in the championship with PSV this season. Like the former Lens player Loïs Openda (24 years old), he has been coming off the bench since the start of the competition, but was present at the press conference two days before the round of 16 against Les Bleus.
This time, Courtois is not there
“I wouldn’t say that the opposing team was better than us. Our strength is football, their strength is defense”: his statements after the Belgian defeat in 2018 were widely mocked by part of the French public. But this Monday, Thibaut Courtois will not be in the Belgian goal, since he was not selected for the Euro. He too is part of the golden generation, and at 32 he is still at the top of European football.
A starter and decisive in the Champions League final won (2-0) by Real Madrid against Dortmund, he showed that he is still one of the few best goalkeepers in the world. Problem: the goalkeeper missed almost the entire season in Spain, victim of a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in August 2023. A late return, but also an open conflict with coach Domenico Tedesco, which explain his absence from the Belgian group. An absence that has caused a stir in Belgium.
“Courtois, it’s a strange situation,” simplifies Philippe Vande Walle, Belgian goalkeeping coach between 2010 and 2013. “You have to know how to close the debate, out of respect for the other goalkeepers. (Koen) Casteels was quickly given a starting place by Tedesco. Until proven otherwise, he’s had a very good Euro.” Good performances that push Courtois’ shadow away, without completely making us forget the Madrid goalkeeper.
A new coach who does not have unanimous support
Six years ago, current Portugal coach Roberto Martinez led the Belgians to a historic World Cup run. But since February 2023, it is the very young Italian-German Domenico Tedesco who has taken over at the head of the selection. The former Leipzig coach took the Red Devils to first place in qualifying for the Euro, with 6 wins and 2 draws ahead of Austria and Sweden.
Successful first steps, followed by a complicated group stage. At 38, the coach is contested. “He doesn’t have the experience of a Didier Deschamps, who knows how to do something even in difficulties. What is important is to know how to change your system. And I think that Domenico Tedesco does it less well”, analyzes Walter Baseggio, international from 1999 to 2005.
No prophet in his new country, the coach is playing big this Monday. A victory against the Blues would bring him into the hearts of the supporters. A defeat would confirm the many doubts surrounding him.
After 2018, the Belgians also had “the only one” in the League of Nations
It’s a match that some French fans may have forgotten. But in Belgium, the victory of the Blues (3-2) in the semi-final of the 2021 League of Nations was hard to swallow. “It was worse than 2018. We were leading 2-0 and then we got pissed off again. I don’t know what happened,” regrets Alexis, a Belgian fan in Brussels.
A new defeat for the Red Devils which reinforces the French psychological ascendancy before the upcoming round of 16. In their history, the two selections have faced each other 5 times in official competition (excluding qualifying), for as many victories for the Blues. Euro 1984, 2018 World Cup, 2021 Nations League: France was crowned after three of these five confrontations. Lucky charm?
