Are Belgium the next big thing in International Football?
- Thread starter KM
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
It's also injuries that are killing their chances. It always seems they have a key player injured. And while other countries like Germany and England have a deep bench, Beligum doesn't. They have a very solid first XI and a couple decent subs...Then it drops... Greatly.
I didn't mention Dries Mertens in the OP but he's another one who's doing well. Scored 11 goals in 7 games for PSV so far.
Well that's them out of picture for the Euros.
Alderweireld off to Atletico Madrid
Mignolet
Alderweireld Kompany Vermaelen Verthonghen
Dembele Defour Fellaini
Bakkali Hazard
Benteke
Alderweireld Kompany Vermaelen Verthonghen
Dembele Defour Fellaini
Bakkali Hazard
Benteke
Courtois
Lombaerts
Van Buyten
Naingollan
De Bruyne
Witsel
Chadli
Mirallas
There's also Lukaku, have to say they have some impressive talent in that squad which makes looking at Sweden's line-up even more depressing.
With Januzaj and Pereira coming through in the next 5 years 
They definitely are producing loads of talents as of late and overtaking Holland in regards of a small nation brining through a great amount of talented players.
Ferreira Carrasco has been immense at Monaco. Not been called with the senior Belgium team so far i think.
Tielemans at Anderlecht looks promising too.
Mertens who joined Napoli this summer should not be forgotten.
Origi's becoming a regular with Lille this season at only 18.
Serwy who signed for Dortmund reserve this summer might be another one to follow
+ Maxime Lestienne, Junior Malanda (ex-Lille youth), Denis Praet, Imoh Ezekiel, Batshuayi who could all explode even more this season.
I discovered him this season and like you said he's been great so far.
Player by player - there are maybe 3-4 countries in Europa whose national side look stronger than Belgium
And yet they havent even started to achieve anything as an international team
No love for Lebanon buddy?
WELL!! Lebanon have been doing ok lately but I think Sweden is a more appropriate comparison. But the way things are going I would not be surprised if Lebanon has a better NT than Sweden . I love watching Lebanon and Sweden play, but they both are so frustrating!!Does anyone have a list of the up and coming CM's from Belgium? Full list from 18 to like 25 would be nice..
World Cup 2014 could be their chance to get quite far and show everyone what they are about. They have dominated their group so far and have the most points out of anyone too. 6 wins and 1 draw.
Weren't we interested in Defour at one point? I know nothing about him - would he be useful for us now (considering our midfield 'crisis'?)
At least, you can follow :
- Nainggolan
- Dennis Praet
- Youri Tielemans
- Enes Saglik
- Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe maybe but already older
Are Belgium the next big thing in International Football?
No
No
And you replied to me because...?
Let me explain how this reply function works. You see someone making a post and want to reply something in relation to it so you click the reply button. This way everyone knows what you are replying to and the person you replied to gets a notice sent to that you quoted him and has a chance to reply. After that though it's probably a good idea to reply to what the person posted and not something entirely unrelated. If you want to just post a statement just do it without quoting so the poor person you quoted, in that case me, doesn't get confused to why he has been quoted.
No need to thank, I'm always happy to help.
I think Belgium have an awful lot of talent coming though.
I think they're mostly overhyped - I'm not playing Belgians are King.
And the cnut of the Weekend award goes to... NoLogo! Congratulations!
Seriously, this condescending bullshit was totally uncalled for. The guy was simply agreeing with you, or so it seemed to me, saying that only 3-4 countries have a better national team than Belgium.
Thank you dear jury for the trust put forth in me and my cuntishness. I also want to thank my dad and mom without whom I wouldn't be the cnut that I am today. Oh yeah and Ciderman, in your face, I won.
I think I'll have pizza tonight.
Peterstorey, you don't even rate Vermaelen then?
They need to work on getting their ranking up so they can move up a pot or two and get easier qualifying groups. Didn't Ireland do this strategically by playing friendlies against beatable teams slightly above them and winning most to claw in more ranking points?
I'd like a bit of Vato's pizza.
It's funny to me how suddenly the entire world overrates our players after years of mediocrity, but I have to say that after a decade of pessimism about the NT I'm finally hopeful we'll qualify for a major tournament again and possibly even make it out of the group stage once there. We've been quietly excellent in qualifying so far, though aided by a group without a traditional powerhouse and a Serbian side that has been on the decline ever since 2010. Nonetheless, 6 wins and 1 draw out of 7 games, three points ahead of Croatia although we still have to play there. 13 goals scored, only 2 conceded (although if not for Courtois this would have been more, esp. against Serbia and Macedonia).
Stand-out players so far have been: De Bruyne, Kompany, Courtois and Vertonghen. Hazard has been steadily improving at last, because he was always our best player on paper but never on the field (I'd even go as far as describing his NT career up until now as a waste of time for all involved), he's been outperformed by Mertens even, but I was encouraged by his last two games in qualifying. Benteke has scored twice and generally did well, but he'll really need to step it up and sort out his touch and stop missing so many open chances. Without De Bruyne our offense would be half as effective, he's our current top scorer in qualifying with 3 goals (and 3 assists) in 5 starts and his performances have been nearly flawless. I also much prefer Witsel to Fellaini in midfield, as he offers all the same qualities but without the defensive nonchalance and sloppy passing + higher work rate.
POSITION-Player (N° of games started in WC qualifying)
GK-Courtois (7)
RB-Alderweireld (5); G. Gillet (2)
CB-Kompany (c) (6); Van Buyten (1)
CB-Vermaelen (6); Van Buyten (1)
LB-Vertonghen (7)
CM-Witsel (7)
CM-Dembélé (4); Fellaini (2); Defour (1)
AM-Hazard (3); Chadli (3); Dembélé (1)
RW-De Bruyne (5); Dembélé (2)
CF-Benteke (6); Mirallas (1)
LW-Mertens (4); Hazard (2); Mirallas (1)
That should be about right. Hazard, Mertens and Chadli are all quite interchangeable.
Final three games of qualifying: Scotland (A), Croatia (A) and Wales (H). Two draws and a win would see us through, so I'm starting to believe even we can't fail anymore, but I'm going to stay pessimistic until it's actually mathematically secured anyway because of the epic feck-up that was our Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, with largely the same players (no Courtois, Benteke and De Bruyne though).
Stand-out players so far have been: De Bruyne, Kompany, Courtois and Vertonghen. Hazard has been steadily improving at last, because he was always our best player on paper but never on the field (I'd even go as far as describing his NT career up until now as a waste of time for all involved), he's been outperformed by Mertens even, but I was encouraged by his last two games in qualifying. Benteke has scored twice and generally did well, but he'll really need to step it up and sort out his touch and stop missing so many open chances. Without De Bruyne our offense would be half as effective, he's our current top scorer in qualifying with 3 goals (and 3 assists) in 5 starts and his performances have been nearly flawless. I also much prefer Witsel to Fellaini in midfield, as he offers all the same qualities but without the defensive nonchalance and sloppy passing + higher work rate.
POSITION-Player (N° of games started in WC qualifying)
GK-Courtois (7)
RB-Alderweireld (5); G. Gillet (2)
CB-Kompany (c) (6); Van Buyten (1)
CB-Vermaelen (6); Van Buyten (1)
LB-Vertonghen (7)
CM-Witsel (7)
CM-Dembélé (4); Fellaini (2); Defour (1)
AM-Hazard (3); Chadli (3); Dembélé (1)
RW-De Bruyne (5); Dembélé (2)
CF-Benteke (6); Mirallas (1)
LW-Mertens (4); Hazard (2); Mirallas (1)
That should be about right. Hazard, Mertens and Chadli are all quite interchangeable.
Final three games of qualifying: Scotland (A), Croatia (A) and Wales (H). Two draws and a win would see us through, so I'm starting to believe even we can't fail anymore, but I'm going to stay pessimistic until it's actually mathematically secured anyway because of the epic feck-up that was our Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, with largely the same players (no Courtois, Benteke and De Bruyne though).
Hang on, you live here in Belgium too Skor? Mind = blown.
Where you from mate?
Where you from mate?
Actually we're currently ranked 10th in the world according to the latest FIFA rankings (August 2013); we were seeded in Pot 3 at the time of the qualifying draw (behind Croatia #9 and Serbia #27), as #37 on the FIFA rankings (July 2011). So I'd say we've made quite a leap in those 2 years. Croatia remained status-quo (currently #8) and Serbia have declined immensely (#41, just four places ahead of Wales).
In that period we've drawn 1-1 with Croatia at home, beaten Serbia 3-0 away and 2-1 at home; in friendlies, we've beaten the Netherlands 4-2, drawn 0-0 twice with France and only lost 1-0 away to England (that I can recall).
I live just outside of Brussels, in the Flemish part. And you?
Antwerp mate, close to Boom, so not very far from you.
I'm Spanish but I live over here in waffle country.
Nowhere ready for such a thing yet. He has made some good games on occasion, but this season will be his big test. With Moutinho out, he will have the chance to start every game (and has done so far) and prove what he's worth. So far hasn't stood out, we'll see what the rest of the season brings. He'll have to fight for his spot as we're well stock in midfield now, at least in quantity.
It will be a very important season for him.