On June 29, 1994, a dream scenario awaited the Devils. After the historic victory against the Netherlands in the second match (1-0, goal by Philippe Albert), Van Himst’s Belgium has everything in hand to finish first in the group and then play in Orlando, near its base camp in Daytona Beach, Indigo Lakes Resort. It is in this heavenly corner of Florida that the armada of Belgian supporters is housed. The winner of the group will face Ireland in 1/8, a team which is within reach of the Belgians.
The last opponent in the group is a Tom Thumb: Saudi Arabia. Just like Koen Casteels 30 years later, Michel Preud’homme had been infallible and even exceptional during the first two matches, against Morocco (1-0) and the Netherlands. And just like Romelu Lukaku, Josip Weber had not found the back of the net.
guillementEnzo noticed that the friction in the card game was visible in training.”
The match in Washington DC against the Saudis turns into a nightmare. In the 5th minute, Saeed Al-Owairan scores one of the most beautiful goals in the history of the World Cup.He was able to dribble past six to seven players, remembers Danny Boffin. It was like a TV commercial: my teammates let him do his slalom without intervening. We were euphoric after the match against the Netherlands. A bit like Belgium after Romania. And we underestimated Saudi Arabia.”
Another common point: like Tedesco, Van Himst had taken some flak in the media.However, I really wanted to win this match against Saudi Arabia. I only changed one player from this match against the Netherlands: Georges Grün.” In reality, the coach had put four other players in his eleven. He had notably launched Marc Wilmots, the great unfortunate of the tournament. Wilmots considered himself to be the fifth wheel after Weber’s naturalization. He did not feel the confidence of his coach and missed his match.
Weber was not Marc Degryse’s best friend either. Coming off injured against Saudi Arabia, Degryse is said to have asked Van Himst to play without the Belgian-Croat. Officially because he didn’t fit the system. Unofficially because tensions during card games had reinforced the anti-Weber tendency. Boffin: “There were eight of us playing cards and we were playing for money. After a while, we noticed that the friction caused by our games was felt in training. Of the eight players, there were six losers and two winners, Scifo and Josip. Enzo had won a fortune, Josip peanuts. To restore serenity in the group, Enzo had offered to give up his jackpot. But Josip refused: he wanted his winnings at all costs. This increased the tensions.” The current Devils also play cards. But there, according to our sources, everything is happening in a good mood.
The defeat against Saudi Arabia caused shock in the newspapers, within the delegation and among the many Belgian fans who already had a ticket for the match in Orlando. Belgium goes third in its group and must go to Chicago, 1,500 kilometers to the north of the country. Worse still: the match is already being played on June 2, three days after Belgium – Saudi Arabia. Van Himst: “Honestly, I never understood how this program was constructed. The Germans had two more days of rest than us.”
guillement“We were moaning about having to go to Chicago. We were planning to go see the Daytona 500 car race.”
If the Devils had stayed in Orlando, they would have had four days of complete rest as well. Boffin: “Coming back from Washington, we had to pack our bags in a hurry to go to Chicago. We were complaining, because we had planned to go to a car race, the famous Daytona 500 on the oval circuit Daytona International Speedway.”
The flight from Orlando to Chicago in a small plane goes badly. The journalists do not respect the ban on talking to the players on the plane, the pilot makes several calls because of the too many comings and goings in his plane. When the plane goes through a big storm, there is panic on board. Boffin: “At first, only a few players were afraid. But the longer it lasted and the more the plane moved from left to right, the more there were Devils who feared the worst. Let’s just say it wasn’t the best preparation before a match against the reigning world champion, Germany.”
The man who is singled out is Roger Vanden Stock, the head of the delegation. According to some journalists, he spent more time on the golf course than at his hotel room desk, earning him the nickname “Roger Vanden Golfstock.”
Very upset by the turn of events, Van Himst makes a mistake in his theory. He lists reserve goalkeeper Köpke as right-back, when in fact it was Berthold. He cannot count on Degryse, who is injured, and maintains his confidence in Weber.Germany in 1994 was as big a chunk as France in 2024recalls Van Himst. With the Klinsmann-Völler duo, they had the best attack in the world. But we didn’t admit defeat before the match. We could have even won, but you know who put a spoke in our wheels.”
Danny Boffin on the 1994 World Cup and the elimination against Germany: “Albert wanted to hit Röthlisberger” (PODCAST)
Van Himst is obviously referring to the Swiss referee Kurt Röthlisberger, who refused a penalty as big as a house to Josip Weber, who had been brought down by Thomas Helmer. At 1-3 and with 20 minutes to play, the match could have had a completely different outcome, especially given Philippe Albert’s 2-3 in the 90th. The Devils had to work together to hold Albert back at the end of the match to prevent him from attacking Röthlisberger.
guillementWith a good referee, we could have beaten Germany. Belgium also has a chance to beat France.
Despite everything that had happened against and after Saudi Arabia, Belgium had not been unworthy against Germany. “Of course not !”, confirms Lorenzo Staelens, who had played all the matches. It would have been easier to beat Ireland, but if you want to get far in a big tournament, you still have to eliminate the big guys? In the Devils’ two best tournaments – in 1986 and 2018 – we beat a favorite: the USSR in 1986 and Brazil at the 2018 World Cup. I don’t understand this pessimism after the match against Ukraine. Was the goal to survive the chickens? Every turn we get through from now on is a bonus.”
Van Himst shares the opinion of his ex-midwayer. “I was surprised by people’s reaction. I’m not claiming that Belgium played well against Ukraine, but it’s not always easy to find the opening. Lukaku has no success and De Bruyne gives 200% and tries to raise the level of the team, but it does not often succeed. And Tedesco? It’s not easy to be a coach in a big tournament, I can attest to that. I can understand that at a certain point in the match, he preferred to secure a draw to be sure of moving on to the next round. France has a lot of chances to win, but we can still beat them too?”
