1 “Doku will no longer be right back”
Tedesco gave the media (and Didier Deschamps) a gift. “I can tell you that Jerry (Doku) will no longer play right-back. But the goal really wasn’t to park him at right-back. My plan was courageous. We wanted to have 70% possession of the ball and defend forward, which would have allowed Doku to play as a right winger. However, we had too little of the ball. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. And so I changed our device after 28 minutes. Against France, Doku could find himself against Koundé, an excellent defender who does not play for nothing in Barcelona. He is very strong one on one, every player on the planet would have trouble against him. But if there’s anyone who can hurt him, it’s ‘Jerry’. Don’t forget that he had to deal with double marking against France. Even Dembélé came to play against him. This means that we are not that weak. And besides, who says that Doku will play on the left flank? It might be on the right flank…”
2 “90% of my theory was about the first 34 minutes”
Another observation, in this match against Italy: Belgium could have taken a very big slap if the Italians had remained at eleven. Tedesco does not hide it. “90% of my video session with the players was the first 34 minutes of the Italy match. It’s my personality to focus on what went wrong. The plan was to stay compact and wait for the right moments to press, but after the 1-0 after a minute of play, we no longer followed what had been agreed. When I showed these images to the group, the players did not know how to deny my words. On the other hand, they told me that the match lasted 90 minutes, and that there were good things afterwards, which I had not talked about. And they are right. We showed a good mentality with eleven against ten, we did a good counter-pressing, we could have won if we had received the penalty and if Italy had received a second red card… In the end, a draw in Italy was not isn’t that bad…”
Domenico Tedesco looks back on his tactical plan against Italy: “I’m not completely crazy”
3 “It’ll Take A Fantastic Day”
Belgium has barely faced one of its pet peeves – in an official match, the Devils have not beaten Italy since 1972 – when another nightmarish opponent arrives in Brussels. The last victory against France in an official match dates back to 1981 (2-0), 43 years ago. Tedesco wasn’t even born yet. The Blues won the next six meetings, including two under Tedesco. For a team playing without its stars Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, it is no gift to go into the match with such stats in the back of your head. Tedesco smiles: “You can see the glass half empty. I see it as half-full: this series of defeats can serve as additional motivation. Belgium had not taken a point against Italy in 10 years and we succeeded. We can also write history against France. How ? By being courageous like during the first 30 minutes in Lyon. And by taking advantage of our few possibilities – on Lukebakio’s breakthrough at the start of the match in France, we should have scored. But it is clear that to beat this France, it will take a fantastic day.”
4 “It’s up to us to set the stadium on fire”
This will only be the seventh time since Tedesco has been in charge of the Devils that he will coach a match in the King Baudouin stadium. And this will only be the second time that the stadium will be full. The first time dates from his first home match, against Austria (1-1). Tedesco: “That’s okay. But now the stadium will be full, so that’s a good thing. Even if the stands are not very close to the pitch like in Leuven, I like matches in the King Baudouin stadium. We will need the support of the entire public to have a good match against France. But it will be our task to set the stadium on fire with a style of play that people like. Of course we won’t be able to press throughout the 90 minutes, but you will see a different side of my team.”
Wout Faes wants to see the Red Devils “defend more compactly” against France
5 “We’ll be there for the qualifiers in March!”
And then, there is this current third place in the group, which is not enough for qualification for the Final Four of the Nations League. The first two places could also facilitate qualification for the 2026 World Cup. Tedesco blows hot and cold. “We can still finish second in the group. A victory against France would be fantastic, but even with a point, anything is still possible, given that Italy hosts France in November. We want to win, but if we don’t try things now with a view to qualifying for the World Cup, we will never do it. I can promise you one thing: we will be ready for these qualifiers which start in March. I tell you: we will be ready. (He repeats it one last time) We will be there! We have already been there in the last matches, but only for 30 minutes in France and for 60 minutes in Italy…”
