The Red Devils without many, but with Romelu Lukaku – the Belgian national team needs success

The Belgian national football team welcomes Italy in the Nations League this Thursday evening (8.45 p.m. / live on RTL-TVI and vtm) in the sold-out King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. If they win, the Red Devils can still qualify for the quarter-finals if they win the last game against Israel on Sunday and Italy lose against France at the same time.

The Red Devils’ first leg in Italy ended 2-2 in Rome on October 10th. Belgium got off to a disastrous start, trailing 2-0 early on and only finding their way back into the game thanks to Italian Lorenzo Pellegrini being sent off.

The Red Devils have not won a competitive game against Italy since May 13, 1972. The 2-1 win in Anderlecht against the then runner-up Italy in the quarter-finals of the European Championship laid the foundation for the first major success of the Belgian national football team, which qualified for the final round of the European Championship, which took place in their own country. Coach Raymond Goethals’ team ended up third in the European Championship.

52 years later, Belgium finally wants to win another competitive game against Squadra Azzurra. So far, only one victory has come in a friendly match exactly 25 years ago, on November 13, 1999.

Just like against France, the King Baudouin Stadium will be completely sold out tonight, but this is mainly due to the fact that France and Italy are traditional and first-class opponents. Because there is currently no euphoria among the Red Devils fans, the results since the 2024 European Championship in Germany have been too bad. At the end of the game against France, “Tedesco démission” (Tedesco resignation) even echoed from the stands.

The Belgian national football team is undergoing reconstruction. There is a lot of talent, perhaps even more than at the time of the so-called Golden Generation, but it takes a little more patience, as national player Amadou Onana explained. Nostalgics mourn the team that came third at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and could have even become world champions, but they forget that the Golden Generation also had a number of problems at the beginning. Belgium missed the 2008 European Championships, the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championships before things picked up from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Onana: “You have to give us the time to grow as a team. The fact that so many young players are coming up is good for Belgian football. I think we can be very satisfied.” Some of today’s young national players are already under contract with big European clubs.

At the end of the 2024/2025 Nations League, Belgium absolutely needs a sense of success against a strong opponent like the Italians. If they manage to win in Budapest against Israel in their last game on Sunday, Domenico Tedesco’s team could even reach the quarter-finals of the Nations League if France wins in Italy on the last matchday. If this is not the case, it goes into relegation.

In the new Nations League mode, the first and second-place teams in the A groups advance to the quarter-finals. The four winners in League A meet a runner-up and have home advantage in the second leg.

Which nations will play in League B in the future is still completely open. Because currently no team in the A-League has been relegated, even if it will be particularly difficult for some. For example, for Bosnia-Herzegovina: If the team loses to Germany, they are relegated. And Switzerland also has to win the home game against Serbia in their group on Friday in order to stay in the league.

On the other hand, some big nations are hoping for promotion from the B league, especially England and Austria and also Norway with top star Erling Haaland. But England still has work to do: Greece has won all games in Group B2 so far, and there will be a direct duel on Thursday. The group winner can move straight into the A league, the second place team has to go into the playoffs against a third place team from League A.

Against Italy, Belgium’s national coach Tedesco has to do without a number of national players. Apart from captain Kevin De Bruyne, Charles De Ketelaere, Jérémy Doku, Thomas Meunier and Youri Tielemans are also missing. But Romelu Lukaku is back, who was probably missed even more than De Bruyne in the last few games.

The long series of injuries and the almost simultaneous playoffs between the Belgian U21 national team and the Czech Republic are also a great opportunity for young players like Roméo Lavia, Samuel Mbangula, Arthur Vermeeren, Matte Smets, Kilian Sardella and others to shine. Even more important for Belgium than the Nations League is the qualification for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, which begins in spring 2025. The group draw will take place at the beginning of December 2024.

Today’s Red Devils game is also a risky game for Belgium’s national coach Tedesco. If Belgium also disappoints against Italy, it would no longer be certain that the Red Devils will begin qualifying for the 2026 World Cup with the German-Italian in the spring. (cre)