Even though they gave themselves a scare in the first half, when Israel equalized at 1-1, the Red Devils, unlike Les Bleus, did not miss their entry into the Nations League football match on Friday, September 6. The Belgian national team, winning 3-1, played in front of a completely empty stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, a country whose far-right populist leader Viktor Orban claims is the safest in Europe for the Jewish minority.
After this match played 1,500 km from Belgium and 2,700 km from Israel, for security reasons and because all the Belgian cities had refused to host it, it is however with a rather relative enthusiasm and the fear of a new disappointment against France that the Devils will travel to Décines, near Lyon, on Monday September 9 (at 8:45 p.m.), to play their second match of the competition.
“We are lucky to play against them again, it is up to us to learn from our mistakesdeclared striker Jérémy Doku on Thursday, September 5. We are confident, we are not arriving thinking about the Euro or the [Mondial au] Qatar. » he added. History, no doubt, to give the impression that both the elimination in the first round of the World Cup, in December 2022, and the recent disappointment during the Euro (elimination in the round of 16 by France), or even the other significant defeat against France (1-0 in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia, in 2018) were forgotten.
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The supporters of the national team have, in any case, been cooled by the successive failures of a team which, during major competitions, has systematically disappointed the hopes placed in it. Today in a reconstruction phase, it will be deprived, on Monday, of several of its pillars, including Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois.
At his request, the center forward and top scorer in the history of the national team was not selected: he is taking care of his preparation in his new club, Naples. The Real Madrid goalkeeper has, for his part, slammed the door and made official his distrust of the coach, Domenico Tedesco. In a message to his fans posted on social networks, he confided, on August 22, his “immense love for the national jersey” but expressed above all his “lack of confidence” in the coach.
A coach criticized but extended
In June 2023, with captain Kevin De Bruyne injured, Domenico Tedesco handed the armband to Romelu Lukaku, angering the 100-cap goalkeeper. After a period of reflection, Kevin De Bruyne, 33, has removed one more worry for Domenico Tedesco: he will continue to play for the national team until 2026 and has, moreover, scored two of his team’s three goals in Debrecen.
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