The curious case of Belgium

After a spectacular summer tournament, I seem to be suffering from post-euro depression (I’m not a big fan of player transfers or court cases, you know). Anyway, this is something I wanted to write about for a long time. Finally there is something interesting in Belgium other than Chocolates(!), Waffles and Red Tape – Football! After a long period in oblivion, the Belgium National Football Team will look to make an identity for itself in the international arena. Belgium players are being mentioned all around the transfer market with the likes of Hazard becoming the biggest signing this summer. So, what’s with this team and why haven’t they able to taste the success till now?

For a country that is sandwiched between three football heavyweights-Netherlands, France and Germany-Belgium haven’t made the most of the surrounding environment. The fact that they haven’t qualified for a major international tournament since 2002 after qualifying for six successive World cups(1982-2002) shows how the team has under-performed in the last decade or so. But the future seems to be bright, and it is rightly deserved.

The Belgium Football federation has largely left the job of revamping the coaching system to the clubs and it must be said that the clubs have succeeding in doing it, the result of which is a hugely talented crop of players. Clubs like Standard Liège and Anderlecht invested heavily in their academy. In total, they spent €18m (£14.4m), more than many Premier League sides, to harness young talent. It has worked: When Fellaini emerged through their younger sides and caught the eye of the Everton manager, David Moyes, they were paid £15m (pretty much the price of their academy) to let him move to England. When Witsel came to the fore as a dynamic midfielder and attracted interest from Portugal, it cost Benfica a fee of around €8m to secure his services. So, how good is the squad?

Marc Wilmots has taken over the squad from Georges Leekens after the latter’s side failed to qualify for Euro 2012. Like many modern European teams, Belgium seems to go with the 4-2-3-1 formation*, which is ideal for utilizing high quality playmakers and adjusting to a lack of strikers(more on that later).

Simon Mignolet, the 23 year-old Sunderland custodian is the No.1 goalkeeper for Belgium right now. His performances, both for club and country, have been impressive and he should continue to start, given his performances till now. Competing with him for the No.1 jersey is Chelsea‘s Thibaut Courtios (check out the pronunciation if you haven’t yet) on loan at Atletico Madrid. He has been hugely impressive in La liga and the Europa League and is touted to be Chelsea’s next shot stopper now that Petr Cech is ageing, albeit slowly (considering his heroics in Champions League). He has been given another year at the Spanish side and that should be followed by an entry into Chelsea’s first team.

The centreback pair looks solid with Vincent Kompany and Vermaelen having brilliant seasons at Manchester City and Arsenal, respectively. However, Belgium’s main problem seems to be a lack of genuine full backs. Jan Vertonghen, a central defender for Ajax, plays as a leftback for the national team. He has been transferred to Tottenham and it will be interesting to see where Villas Boas plays him. Although not a genuine left back, Vertonghen has a powerful left foot and shuffles across different positions on the left side. Dedryck Boyota, the Manchester City leftback who was on loan at Bolton last season, adds depth to the position and looks to be a promising talent for the future. Rightback is a bigger problem. Anthony Van Borre seems to have lost his place in the side and Gulliaume Gillet, a midfielder, occupied his slot for the friendly against England.

*They are experimenting a lot though so it’s hard to infer their primary formation

The midfield looks pretty solid with Benfica’s Axel Witsel and Everton’s Marouane Fellaini in the double pivot, although the latter has played a more forward role as a target man in the recent games. Porto’s Steven Defour is an excellent alternative and provides more than decent backup. Further up are the likes of Hazard, Fulham’s Moussa Dembele (who is a world class tackler). Hazard is adamant on playing in the center, although it sort-of messes up the system . It will be interesting to see where he plays at Chelsea because Juan Mata has already established himself as the No.10 at Chelsea and the rumored signing of Oscar Dos Santos, a hugely talented Brazilian No.10, only makes the competition stiffer.

PSV’s goal scoring machine Dries Mertens, Twente’s pacy Nacir Chadli and Chelsea’s Kevin De Bruyne are the options available on either side of the No.10. Mertens and De Bruyne were in excellent goal scoring form last season and have gone to the extent of one injuring others(Mertens broke Gary Cahill’s jaw) and the other (De Bruyne) injuring himself.

Despite such a good attack force, Belgium have looked toothless in the friendlies against England and France, due to the lack of a proper striker. Romelu Lukaku has been struggling for playing time at Chelsea and although Belgium looked a bit more adventurous after his substitution against England, he wasn’t clinical and looked more like a raw product than an end one. Kevi Mirallas of Olympiacos is another option which has been used by Marc Wilmots, albeit strangely on the right flank. To be honest though, he has had a disappointing season and hasn’t looked good. One can only hope Lukaku gets some playing time at Chelsea (as it stays, he will continue at Chelsea and won’t go for a loan).

If anything, there is one big lesson which teams can learn from Euro12, and that’s unity within the team. Before the tournament started, the Dutch were one of the tournament favorites, but they managed zero points* and crashed out in the group stages. That was because they had too many superstars within the team and didn’t manage to play together. Same is the story with France. They were on a 21-match winning streak before they lost to Sweden in the last match of the group stage, and suddenly there were reports of clashes between squad members and manager Laurent Blanc. Compare those two with Italy, who were dark horses before the euros, and what they managed – a runners-up spot because of a strong, unified squad and the tactical astuteness of Cesare Prandelli.

(*Zero points isn’t fair to the Dutch. They were pretty unlucky against Denmark and went for everything against Portugal. That’s not to say they were good but not as bad as zero points)

This is something very important and even more in Belgium’s case. Here’s why:

Georges Leekens, the former manager of Belgium was sacked for not qualifying for Euro 2012. Belgium had to finish above Turkey and Germany in the qualifiers (which they didn’t), and as a result he was sacked after a two year stint, having taken over the team from Dick Advocaat in 2010. In retrospect, his sacking followed by the appointment of Marc Wilmots (who was his No.2), might actually turn out to be a good decision for Belgium.

As stated earlier, Belgium is sandwiched between Netherlands, France and Germany and of 11 million people, 60% are Flemish (who speak Dutch), 40% are Walloons(speak French) and a small percentage are German speakers. This division also shows in the Belgium squad. Leekens, who is Flemish, often confronted the Walloons and fell out with the likes of Hazard. It publicly showed when Hazard got a one-game ban for making derogatory comments towards Leekens for substituting Hazard around the hour mark. Wilmots on other hand, is neither Flemish nor Walloon and is relatively well liked by his players. Hazard’s tracking back during the England match was also noteworthy, something which he isn’t known for much and which Leekens had been critical of.

Obviously, the task at hand for Wilmots is to steady the team and work out together. Something which is in favor of Belgium is the many potential starters that are/have arrived at Chelsea. The club-country connection is a useful advantage, something which Spain have shown in Euros. Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne are at Chelsea and they will be followed by Thibaut Courtios. Fellaini has also been linked with Chelsea as they look to strengthen the midfield area. Axel Witsel,23, who has been excellent at Benfica (despite some of his horrific challenges) has been linked with Man United, which will certainly benefit his career.

Individual mistakes have cost Belgium dearly till now. If you look at England(1-0) and France(0-0) games, they haven’t played badly. Even in the Euro qualifiers against Germany,Austria(4-4 with an Austrian goal in the last minute, thanks to some horrible defending) and Turkey, it’s the individual mistakes at key moments that cost the the side. They somehow seem to lack the cutting edge as well, something which might be healed if Lukaku gets more playing time at Chelsea.

These are exciting times for Belgium team and it will be fun to watch how they perform in the World Cup qualifiers. The Belgium batallion at Chelsea is obviously very important for club and country. A Club-and-Country symbiotic relationship is quite important and it looks like someone (Michael Enemalo anyone?) at Stamford Bridge seems to believe this Belgium team is the next golden generation. Let’s hope they do well and provide some good football.