After ten years of waiting, Koen Casteels (31) will finally play his first major tournament. But his first press conference at this Euro was not a cakewalk. Each time the name of Thibaut Courtois was mentioned in a question, we felt a big hint of irritation in the man who preferred the Saudi club Al-Qadsiah to Anderlecht.
We already knew it: Casteels is not the funniest Devil. But when you replace the best goalkeeper in the world and almost the whole country has been pushing for Domenico Tedesco to bury the hatchet with Courtois, you can expect to receive questions on this subject. Casteels obviously did not share this opinion.
When asked if he felt more pressure given Courtois’ absence, his answer was correct. “No way. We are here with a very good core. We are all convinced of our qualities. I don’t think I have much left to prove after playing so many games in Germany (Editor’s note: 357 to be precise).”
gullHow should I respond to this? I have already proven myself sufficiently in Germany.
But when a colleague from Standard followed up on this response by asking: “In youth teams at Genk, you were as good or better than Courtois. Does this give you confidence ahead of the Euro?”he was silent for a few seconds and sighed before turning to press chief Stefan Van Loock, who had no choice but to say: “The Thibaut chapter is closed. We’re not going to talk about that much anymore.”
Our colleague, however, insisted: “I couldn’t ask this question?”. Casteels: “Yes, but what should I say to that? I have already proven myself. I will do my best in this tournament.” Our colleague: “It’s still true that you were at least as good as him, right?” Casteels, cynically: “Thank you so much. Thank you so much.”
Questions about his competition with Matz Sels did not sit well with him either. When The DH wanted to know if he was not upset that there were doubts about who would be number 1 at the Euro, given the good performances of Sels in Ireland and England, he replied: “Who expressed these doubts?”
The media, Koen. But the federal coach waited a long time before announcing his decision. “I don’t read newspapersreplied Casteels. And so, that couldn’t offend me. I’m happy that he declared before the Euro who will be number 1. It’s good to have clarity.”
And then, we still had to broach the subject of his transfer to Saudi Arabia, where he will earn nearly 10 million net per season. Present for VTM, Gilles De Bilde wanted to know why he finally opted for a Saudi new recruit when he had declared that he would go to a club with an interesting sporting project. “I played for 13 years in the Bundesliga. I’m almost 32 years old. I’m not going to just any club in Saudi Arabia. I went there. The owner of the club has great sporting ambitions. The championship is becoming more and more attractive. Many other European players made the same choice as me. When I see their names, it’s an exaggeration to say we don’t play football there.”
And what about the human rights that are violated in the country where he will play? “I go there to practice my profession. The goal is to go play football. Everyone has their opinion on this subject. I can just tell you that I was well received. I was impressed by the international schools for my children and the houses I visited also left a good impression on me.”
gullAnderlecht were not champions so talks did not continue.
In the meantime, he had to disappoint Anderlecht, who were banking on him to replace Kasper Schmeichel. Saturday, in the mixed zone after the match against Luxembourg, he was sent away The DH when he received a question about his flirtation with Sporting. “It’s the Euro, it’s not the time to talk about that.”
We made another attempt at this Thursday’s press conference. Would he have said yes to the RSCA if the Mauves had been champions and therefore played in the Champions League? “They didn’t win the title and they didn’t qualify for the Champions League. So the talks did not go through and therefore I cannot answer this hypothetical question.”
In short, it wasn’t easy to ask questions that Casteels liked. The German journalists who covered boating topics were entitled to a smile. “Yes, the hotel is good. It’s not great luxury, but it’s enough for us. We feel at home. Yes, the ground is good. It gets damaged pretty quickly, but that’s okay. Yes, it was nice to have been able to give some autographs and photos to the children who we made happy. And yes, Tedesco is a typically German coach, who wants discipline when necessary. I’m used to having German coaches, so it doesn’t bother me. And no, I don’t know what kind of coach Kompany will be at Bayern, since I never had him as a coach. But as a player, he already had leadership abilities.”
gullBelgium must be proud of its goalkeepers born in 1992 instead of considering them as competitors.
No, Casteels did not score points with Belgian journalists. This is perhaps why he still wanted to send them a positive message to conclude his press briefing. “I always felt ready to play in previous tournaments (Editor’s note: he missed the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2021 due to injuries and was number 3 at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups), but the coach made other choices. Belgium has very good goalkeepers who were born in 1992 (Casteels, Courtois, Sels and Kaminski are from this year). As a country, we should be proud of a generation like this instead of seeing them as competitors.”
