Thomas Meunier did not accompany the Belgian group to Germany, suffering a muscle injury. Domenico Tedesco has until this Sunday to possibly replace him, but the suspense is over.
Certainly, it was the day of good news, this Sunday at the Frankfurt Arena. In addition to announcing that Jan Vertonghen and Arthur Theate were fit and – theoretically – ready to play this Monday against Slovakia, the coach officially announced that Thomas Meunier would indeed join the group.
It won’t be right away, though. “His injury was a little more serious, we knew that. But he will be there in a week and a half. Thomas will be back after the match against Romania,” reveals Domenico Tedesco.
He will then resume collective training, and it remains to be seen whether he will be able to play in the Devils’ third group match against Ukraine. But a priori, Meunier will therefore be available from the round of 16 at the latest.
Meunier’s work rewarded
“This is one of the reasons why we will not call up a new player,” confirms Tedesco. “It would have been easy to say: ‘Okay, he’s injured, let’s call someone else’. But before you think about Thomas Meunier as a player, you have to consider Thomas Meunier as a person.”
As we had in fact deciphered before the Euro (read here), it was also for the human aspect that Tedesco had made this decision. “He worked so hard to return to the national team, he went to Trabzonspor to get playing time and is so motivated. I am delighted that his injury is less serious than expected,” rejoices the Red Devils coach.
“We believe in our players and in our ability to do the job while waiting for everyone to be there. The atmosphere is very good.”
