“The Devils Humiliated”headline our colleagues at Sudinfo, affirming that they “hit rock bottom.” “Belgium was lost in the fog of Budapest. To end up losing the compass and total control of a match that is well underway.”continue the newspapers of the Rossel group.
“The bottom had not yet been reached. Against Israel, the Red Devils once again delivered a disappointing performance. Once again, the performance was particularly bland against the weakest team in the group”commented Sporza who still prefers to see the glass half full, “Belgium will not be relegated directly from the first division of the League of Nations and will play the play-offs for maintenance in March.” Here we are…
“Stop being negative!”: Dodi Lukebakio charges the media after the Devils’ defeat
“The Red Devils have lost face again”underlines the Nieuwsblad which also managed to find some excuses for Domenico Tedesco after this new disillusionment: “With five last-minute withdrawals, a rather experimental eleven started.” The newspaper nevertheless asks the question about the Devils who forfeited this gathering: “The players who didn’t come must have felt something. We would still like to know which of these Devils will not be in action with their club next weekend. Playing for the national team no longer seems like fun. It’s looking more and more like chaos.”
The League of Nations, a failure across the board
Beyond this last defeat of the year 2024, the Belgian press draws a catastrophic assessment of this Nations League campaign. “The Devils were an abomination from September to November.”ose ainsi le Latest News.
The Nieuwsblad goes back a little further in time: “In the last 10 matches, the Belgians have only won against Romania and Israel. Now they are also losing against second-tier countries. Things continue to deteriorate.”
Belgium hits rock bottom: beaten by the 81st nation in Fifa, the Devils and Tedesco were sad to see
“Okay, that includes three matches against France and two against Italy, but also against Ukraine and Israel. Just one victory in eight international matches is just lamentable. And heinous.”points out HLN which also believes that the whole of 2024 was a failure: “The Euro was a disillusionment, the Nations League campaign a real flop. 4 out of 18. Including four defeats.”
For its part, Sudinfo draws conclusions after these successive failures: “The predicted decline is well and truly underway. It remains to pray with folded hands so that the oldest do not finally decide to drop out by the 2026 World Cup.”
With or without Tedesco in 2025?
Obviously, when the results do not follow, it is very often the coach who suffers. Domenico Tedesco is no exception to the rule and the criticism has been raining down for several months. In recent days, the new CEO Peter Willems, as well as certain players like Youri Tielemans, have nevertheless continued to defend their coach.
But the Belgian press cannot help but ask the question: “Is Domenico Tedesco still the man for the job?”
“The pressure continues to increase on Tedesco’s shoulders after the new defeat: this cannot continue”écrit le Latest News.
Tedesco does not want to give up despite the new defeat: “I still trust myself and I still trust my players”
“The dynamic is confirmed throughout the matches: something has been broken since the start of the Euro and the coach seems incapable of stopping the machine. He concluded his post-match press conference with a “we will be there in March”, we are entitled to wonder if he will have the opportunity. If the answer is affirmative, he will have to find a magic recipe to reverse the trend”thus analyzes the RTBF which asks itself another existential question: “Will bosses Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku be present at the next gathering?
For the newspapers of the Rossel group, “The debriefing meeting planned for the days following the end of the gathering at the national center of Tubize, risks taking a more tense turn than expected for the federal coach, now on the gridiron.believing that it will be necessary for the coach “solid arguments to convince his hierarchy that he is capable of regaining the dynamic of his beginning of mandate.”
For their part, the Dutch-speaking newspapers hope that the new technical director of the federation Vincent Mannaert will be the man for the job “get the Red Devils out of the doldrums.” The former Bruges resident will in any case have his work cut out for him.
The Devils under the magnifying glass: Smets gives a gift to Israel, Openda with zero confidence, eight failures in all
