Domenico Tedesco arrived full of innovative ideas. With a plan bigger than the players. He got lost in compromises, weighed down by a defense never ready to support his ideas.
It was the time for certainties. Before its first meetings in 2024, Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium has almost only victories on its CV. Roberto Martinez’s successor even offered the luxury of puffing out your chest in the face of the biggest charts in the countryThibaut Courtois, and imposed the new standard of selections by select committee rather than making friends by distributing good points. Among the followers, all praise its consistency. The line is clear like those of Hergé, whose museum was also chosen at the right time to announce last March the extension of his contract until the end of the 2026 World Cup. However, the start of the problems is not far away.
A goalless draw in Ireland, then a victory in stoppage time in the majestic London setting of Wembley. In both cases, far too many chances conceded. Especially against England, where the locals’ equalizer is even more deserved than late. “Of course, it’s one of the best teams in Europe, but we have to do better than that”underlines a coach still visibly annoyed by the performance more than two months later, when announcing his list for the Euro. No Koni De Winter, disappointing in Ireland, but a surprising return from Axel Witsel, never present in Tedesco’s lists.
The former darling of the Sclessin stands had also quickly retired internationally, avoiding the dishonor of additional non-selections in a midfielder where his profile did not correspond to the plan. There, it is in defense that the coach seems to want to count on him. Because to attack as he would like, Tedesco must find a more solid defense. In the self-proclaimed “land of compromise”, the Italian-German now seems to comply with local customs.
Tedesco and the Red Devils, a look back at the Euro of egos
The light line is crossed out. Brilliant in a five-man defense in his club, Witsel had to slip into a four-man back base, did not eclipse the doubts in a friendly against Montenegro then got injured. Tedesco does not call anyone back, closes ranks, even when Thomas Meunier withdraws in turn while Jan Vertonghen is uncertain. Rare satisfaction from preparation matches, Maxim De Cuyper seemed to establish himself at left back, but was put on the bench against Slovakia to make way for Yannick Carrasco. A winger placed in defense and on the wrong foot, as if to avoid having to make a difficult ego choice between the person concerned and Jérémy Doku. A little over a year after discarding high-sounding names to make way for his plan, Domenico Tedesco throws his plan in the trash to clumsily fit names together like one would when drawing a crossword puzzle.
The Euro is a succession of tactical errors and poor copies, concluded by a tasteless 4-4-2 against France, where the plan only seems to be to curl up on its goal to avoid conceding chances against the Blues who have nevertheless failed to score since the start of the summer. The deflected strike which sealed the Belgian fate was a logical consequence rather than an unfortunate twist of fate. There, everyone is already pointing the finger at Domenico Tedesco. Although a German Cup finalist with his previous employer, the coach seems to have collapsed under the pressure of the event. Amazing? Roberto Martinez, much more experienced, used to say that the position of coach had an underestimated impact: “In the national team, when you lose, you have the whole country on your doorstep.”
-Tedesco and the Red Devils: the insoluble equation
A mea culpa later, the opportunity to take matters into their own hands presents itself at the Nations League meeting. Tedesco promises: the Belgium of tomorrow will resemble the one he has in mind. The whims of Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne help bring order to the hierarchyas well as the international retirement of Jan Vertonghen and the tacit sidelining of Yannick Carrasco and Axel Witsel. The time has come for the new generation and reconstruction.
Very quickly, however, the equation resurfaces. If Belgium decides to protect a defense that is too weak to be exposed, it suffers from its lack of collective thinker and must rely on the exploits of its dribbler Jérémy Doku to enter the opposing camp. If, on the other hand, she decides to combine her best offensive talents and make her matches more open, the defensive wound opens spectacularly and a furious captain rightly laments against France, noting that no one is able to stop the hemorrhage.
When Belgium no longer scores
Like a silent Lukaku throughout the Euro, Belgium no longer scores. Worse, she multiplies the opportunities conceded as soon as she tries to be a little more enterprising to increase her chances of shaking the nets. Lukaku’s brief return, captain’s armband on his arm a few weeks after publicly recounting his national team spleendoesn’t change anything. It only forces Tedesco to make a new compromise, a month after a narrow defeat against France which was one of the most collectively coherent outings of the last two diabolical years.
Against Israel, for what will be the last outing of the Tedesco era, everything disappeared. Renowned individuals like collective plans. It is without Courtois, Witsel, Carrasco, Onana, Doku, De Bruyne and Lukaku that the Red Devils collapse in Budapest. The equation was never resolved. In two years, it has perhaps even increased its number of unknowns.
