The Belgian National Team- how good could they be?

[A_S]

In light of this brilliant opener from the 'Iconic Images' thread:

 

 

it got me thinking about the current national team and even off the top of my head I could think of a pretty decent starting XI, as well as cover in most areas of the pitch (4-2-3-1):

 

MIGNOLET

 

VANDEN-BORRE VERMAELEN KOMPANY VERTONGHEN

 

FELLAINI DEMBELE

 

MERTENS HAZARD MIRALLAS

 

LUKAKU

 

SUBS: COURTOIS, VAN BUYTEN, DEFOUR, DE BRUYNE, BENTEKE

 

I just find them an interesting situation, as for long periods there has been no decent Belgian NT, yet they had one fairly decent period in the 70's through to the 80's, but nothing of note since.....until now, you would think. Although I have to admit, I have never seen them in a competitive game, but merely the individuals who comprise it playing for their respective club sides, so I am theorizing quite a bit here.

 

So yeah, how good could they be? One thing they have is time, as most of those players are in their early-mid 20's, so there is a lot of room for improvement on what is already a very good group of individuals.

 

The other thing is that a lot of the current, all-conquering Spanish NT have said they will retire after the next World Cup in 2014, Italy are in a transitional period, France seem to lose their shit every so often, Germany could be scarred from so many near misses of recent times (especially if you include a lot of their players from the Bayern teams that lost recent CL finals) and England don't appear to be producing that absolute quality through the youth.

 

I'd be interested to hear from those who watched the older Belgian teams, especially the '86 World Cup one (from that great pic above), unlucky to have been denied a World Cup final appearance by the individual brilliance of one of, if not THE best player the game has ever seen.

 

Thoughts?

[stevienando]

INGURLAND

[Trumo]

They've got a very high quality generation of players coming through at the same time, and the strange part is that they've not even planned for it. It's not like they set up a system a decade ago that is now seeing the talent emerge (like Germany, say), rather it just so happened that this group has come together almost organically. A lot of them have developed outside Belgium too.

 

And that above pic is from the opening game of the 1982 World Cup!

[Byrnie]

I remember reading an article about 3/4 years ago about how they always have trouble in the camp and the players getting the manager sacked.

[Bjornebye]

Great team that is above.... Defour seems to have stalled though. I expected bigger things. We need a Belgian.

[Rambo]

The closest thing we'd get to a quality Belgian is a pint of Stella. Watch out wives.

[rondeco]

A mate of mine knows an agent who has strong links with Belgian footy. He says that passports have been handed out like birthday cards to african youths to come and develop in belgium etc. Lots of dodgy dealings but getting the cream of the crop. Liverpool will be trialling a new centre back from there next month.

[Newport]

I wonder if the Flemish-Walloon divide has any impact on them. It doesn't seem like they are getting the results they should be with players like that. On paper ...

[Paulie Dangerously]

Will end up winning the same as England's golden generation I'd bet

[mouse1989]

In light of this brilliant opener from the 'Iconic Images' thread:

 

 

it got me thinking about the current national team and even off the top of my head I could think of a pretty decent starting XI, as well as cover in most areas of the pitch (4-2-3-1):

 

MIGNOLET

 

VANDEN-BORRE VERMAELEN KOMPANY VERTONGHEN

 

FELLAINI DEMBELE

 

MERTENS HAZARD MIRALLAS

 

LUKAKU

 

SUBS: COURTOIS, VAN BUYTEN, DEFOUR, DE BRUYNE, BENTEKE

 

I just find them an interesting situation, as for long periods there has been no decent Belgian NT, yet they had one fairly decent period in the 70's through to the 80's, but nothing of note since.....until now, you would think. Although I have to admit, I have never seen them in a competitive game, but merely the individuals who comprise it playing for their respective club sides, so I am theorizing quite a bit here.

 

So yeah, how good could they be? One thing they have is time, as most of those players are in their early-mid 20's, so there is a lot of room for improvement on what is already a very good group of individuals.

 

The other thing is that a lot of the current, all-conquering Spanish NT have said they will retire after the next World Cup in 2014, Italy are in a transitional period, France seem to lose their shit every so often, Germany could be scarred from so many near misses of recent times (especially if you include a lot of their players from the Bayern teams that lost recent CL finals) and England don't appear to be producing that absolute quality through the youth.

 

I'd be interested to hear from those who watched the older Belgian teams, especially the '86 World Cup one (from that great pic above), unlucky to have been denied a World Cup final appearance by the individual brilliance of one of, if not THE best player the game has ever seen.

 

Thoughts?

 

Courtois is now the first choice 'keeper

 

Alderweireld often plays RB. Witsel normally plays CM with Fellaini and Dembele which gives them a nice balance. Hazard wants to play the number 10 role but for the good of the team he plays on the RW

 

Mertens is talented but is so right footed, that he normally just cuts inside from the left. Really needs to develop otherwise, he's going to be predictable

 

Benteke plays ahead of Lukaku as well

 

Been watching them for a good few years now and went to the Wales vs Belgium game last September. Kompany 50/1 first goalscorer as well :)

[mouse1989]

Great team that is above.... Defour seems to have stalled though. I expected bigger things. We need a Belgian.

 

Would suggest Chadli out of all the available players

 

Defour hasn't settled well at Porto as well, wouldn't mind us signing him. Wanted us to sign both him and Witsel when they both became available from Standard Liege

[Jairzinho]

Why do they all play in England?

[VladimirIlyich]

Why do they all play in England?

 

[Jairzinho]

 

They could still get decent wages in Spain, Germany, or Italy. Surely?

 

Just seems odd that the vast majority of high quality Belgian footballers all play in one league.

[sir roger]

I might be one of the few on here old enough to remember that Burnley were going to be the team of the 1970's.

[VladimirIlyich]

I might be one of the few on here old enough to remember that Burnley were going to be the team of the 1970's.

 

Or Crystal Palace the team of the 80's.

[stringvest]

I might be one of the few on here old enough to remember that Burnley were going to be the team of the 1970's.

 

Martin Dobson. Good player.

[Newport]

They could still get decent wages in Spain, Germany, or Italy. Surely?

 

Just seems odd that the vast majority of high quality Belgian footballers all play in one league.

 

The wages at the top clubs might be competitive, but in general the PL quashes most other clubs in wages. It's quite a ridiculous gap among the clubs actually. Especially in Spain where the two big ones get away with most of the TV money. Maybe not as much in Germany, but there they have more reasonable spending on wages and transfer fees.

 

I'm guessing the reason that all of them come to England is mainly the same as it is on other countries relatively close to England, like here in Norway, that it is the league that is the most popular to move to because it't the one that gets the most media attention.

[Nunavut Patrick]

A mate of mine knows an agent who has strong links with Belgian footy. He says that passports have been handed out like birthday cards to african youths to come and develop in belgium etc. Lots of dodgy dealings but getting the cream of the crop. Liverpool will be trialling a new centre back from there next month.

 

Nothing has changed from King Leopold's days. Instead of rubber it's footie players from Africa. I bet some Belgians were sitting around the Colonial Palace and thought, 'all our white players are shite so let's go and get some African ones.' Except this time there was no Livingstone to do the dirty work so they've used football agents.

 

Belgium has nothing but NATO and the EU and all because the Germans, French and English couldn't HQ those agencies in a traditional European power.

 

Stella is a decent beer and I like the glass. But that trappist stuff is god-awful and really people who like it are pandering to some sort of romanticism of ale-brewing Druid-worshipping monks secret recipe-society shite. It's fucking sediment-laden crap brewed by weirdo's in robes. And as well, what's with Antwerp and the blood diamond trade? Jesus, they can't just stop messing with misery.

 

Oh, and when they try and do the right thing as soon as it gets a bit messy the fuckers turn tail. Rwanda 1994. Try and pin that one on the Canadian general. The fucking Bangladeshi Army showed more professionalism with none of the tools.

 

There is nothing in Belgium. All the other smaller countries in Europe have better things. Like Ireland has the Guiness brewery. Holland has Amsterdam with hookers and marijuana. Liechenstein has a pretty neat castle. Portugal has the bird from Love Actually movie (like she'd fall in love with Colin Firth. He stammers for fucks sakes). Gibraltor has those monkeys. And so on. Okay so the rock of Gibraltor belongs to the UK but the point stands.

 

Every six months there is some story aboot the imminent collapse of the place as the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking Flems and Loons can't get along. I mean, do they even have a fucking language? Is it Esperanto?

 

And the clincher is they are responsible for the worst lyric in pop music history--

 

Buying bread from a man in Brussels

He was six foot four and full of muscles

 

I'd rather make Purple Aki a Vegemite sandwhich than go to Belgium.

[A_S]

I wonder if the Flemish-Walloon divide has any impact on them. It doesn't seem like they are getting the results they should be with players like that. On paper ...

 

Excuse the ignorance, but is that a better / worse situation than the Spanish situation? Also, you have virtually the entire Spanish team playing for either side of a spiteful rivalry (which also has political ties), yet they seem to be able to put it all aside and have had huge success in recent years.

 

As it stands, they are top of their World Cup qualification group, so it'd be interesting to see how they go should they make it to the finals.

[Funkasy]

Nothing has changed from King Leopold's days. Instead of rubber it's footie players from Africa. I bet some Belgians were sitting around the Colonial Palace and thought, 'all our white players are shite so let's go and get some African ones.' Except this time there was no Livingstone to do the dirty work so they've used football agents.

 

Belgium has nothing but NATO and the EU and all because the Germans, French and English couldn't HQ those agencies in a traditional European power.

 

Stella is a decent beer and I like the glass. But that trappist stuff is god-awful and really people who like it are pandering to some sort of romanticism of ale-brewing Druid-worshipping monks secret recipe-society shite. It's fucking sediment-laden crap brewed by weirdo's in robes. And as well, what's with Antwerp and the blood diamond trade? Jesus, they can't just stop messing with misery.

 

Oh, and when they try and do the right thing as soon as it gets a bit messy the fuckers turn tail. Rwanda 1994. Try and pin that one on the Canadian general. The fucking Bangladeshi Army showed more professionalism with none of the tools.

 

There is nothing in Belgium. All the other smaller countries in Europe have better things. Like Ireland has the Guiness brewery. Holland has Amsterdam with hookers and marijuana. Liechenstein has a pretty neat castle. Portugal has the bird from Love Actually movie (like she'd fall in love with Colin Firth. He stammers for fucks sakes). Gibraltor has those monkeys. And so on. Okay so the rock of Gibraltor belongs to the UK but the point stands.

 

Every six months there is some story aboot the imminent collapse of the place as the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking Flems and Loons can't get along. I mean, do they even have a fucking language? Is it Esperanto?

 

And the clincher is they are responsible for the worst lyric in pop music history--

 

Buying bread from a man in Brussels

He was six foot four and full of muscles

 

I'd rather make Purple Aki a Vegemite sandwhich than go to Belgium.

 

[Skidfingers McGonical]

 

Nothing has changed from King Leopold's days. Instead of rubber it's footie players from Africa. I bet some Belgians were sitting around the Colonial Palace and thought' date=' 'all our white players are shite so let's go and get some African ones.' Except this time there was no Livingstone to do the dirty work so they've used football agents.

 

Belgium has nothing but NATO and the EU and all because the Germans, French and English couldn't HQ those agencies in a traditional European power.

 

Stella is a decent beer and I like the glass. But that trappist stuff is god-awful and really people who like it are pandering to some sort of romanticism of ale-brewing Druid-worshipping monks secret recipe-society shite. It's fucking sediment-laden crap brewed by weirdo's in robes. And as well, what's with Antwerp and the blood diamond trade? Jesus, they can't just stop messing with misery.

 

Oh, and when they try and do the right thing as soon as it gets a bit messy the fuckers turn tail. Rwanda 1994. Try and pin that one on the Canadian general. The fucking Bangladeshi Army showed more professionalism with none of the tools.

 

There is nothing in Belgium. All the other smaller countries in Europe have better things. Like Ireland has the Guiness brewery. Holland has Amsterdam with hookers and marijuana. Liechenstein has a pretty neat castle. Portugal has the bird from Love Actually movie (like she'd fall in love with Colin Firth. He stammers for fucks sakes). Gibraltor has those monkeys. And so on. Okay so the rock of Gibraltor belongs to the UK but the point stands.

 

Every six months there is some story aboot the imminent collapse of the place as the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking Flems and Loons can't get along. I mean, do they even have a fucking language? Is it Esperanto?

 

And the clincher is they are responsible for the worst lyric in pop music history--

 

Buying bread from a man in Brussels

He was six foot four and full of muscles

 

I'd rather make Purple Aki a Vegemite sandwhich than go to Belgium.[/quote']

 

I was looking forward to this post as soon as I read the thread title.

[lifetime fan]

I'd be interested to see the current Poland side if they had all the players eligible to play for them doing so.

[Xherdan]

Hahaha, thats a fuckin quality post from NV. IN Belgium's defence, Bruges and its surrounds is a very nice area.

[Newport]

Excuse the ignorance, but is that a better / worse situation than the Spanish situation? Also, you have virtually the entire Spanish team playing for either side of a spiteful rivalry (which also has political ties), yet they seem to be able to put it all aside and have had huge success in recent years.

 

As it stands, they are top of their World Cup qualification group, so it'd be interesting to see how they go should they make it to the finals.

 

Hard to say, I don't really know too much about it myself to be honest. Here's an article about some of the issues concerning the football side of it.

 

When Saturday Comes - Language barrier

 

Belgium’s linguistic and political split between Flemings and Walloons is now affecting its football, writes John Chapman

 

Belgium holds a unique place in western Europe as it’s the only country that is anywhere close to be being roughly equally divided along linguistic lines. The two halves – Flemings (Dutch speaking) and Walloons (French speaking) – are rarely united these days; there has not been a national show of unity since 1996 when 300,000 Belgians took to the streets in protest against the police’s apparently mishandled investigation into a series of internationally reported child murders by Marc Dutroux. Prior to that, there are memories of an outpouring of grief at the death of King Baudouin in 1993 and the 1986 return to the Grand Place of the “Red Devils” after they had reached the World Cup semi-finals in Mexico.

 

 

However, in the past ten or so years, the talk has been of the country splitting – talk that has mainly emanated from the Dutch-speaking north of Belgium. There’s a bit of history here of course. Wallonia held the upper hand in the Sixties and Seventies due to its burgeoning steel and mining industries. That has changed, with Flanders becoming something of a high-technology hotspot and Wallonia sinking into an area of high unemployment. Most of this talk of an independent Flanders originates in the extremely complex world of Belgian politics. Recent events, however, have shown that it is spilling over into the world of sport in general and football in particular.

 

Belgian football has long been dominated by Flemish teams; a current look at the first division shows that only five of the 18 teams are from French-speaking areas. Although Standard Liege won the Belgian championship last year, it was their first triumph for 20 years. Belgium’s most famous club is undoubtedly Anderlecht, from the north of Brussels. The Belgian capital is largely French-speaking, but its most famous football club has firmly Flemish roots.

 

Despite this, there has never been talk of dividing Belgian football along linguistic lines – until last year. Then, the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA/KBVB) voted – by a small majority – to create Flemish and Walloon leagues at the amateur level. This split came about at the insistence of Flemish politicians who wanted the infrastructure of their local clubs to benefit from an injection of funds from the Flemish regional government.

 

The political split was thrown into stark relief by two recent football matches. In November, Tubize – one of five Walloon clubs in the first division – played Genk, a club in the heartland of Flanders and the Belgian home of the Ford Motor Company. The match became famous for the “Derwa affair”: the Tubize manager Louis Derwa complained to the referee about Genk fans chanting “Walloons are shit” for long periods of the game. He was particularly upset as it was Tubize’s first game following the inauguration of their new stand and 500 children and their families had been especially invited to the match. Not that children would have been too concerned, one suspects. The Belgian FA took that view, and, despite some protests, announced that the chants had simply been “playful”.

 

Feelings, though, were ramped up several notches in February. Royal Antwerp, the oldest club in Belgium and one firmly in Flanders but currently in the second division – “welcomed” Virton (a Walloon club) to its venerable and deteriorating stadium. After several unsavoury incidents during the game, Antwerp’s fans started chanted “Walloons are paedophiles” – a reference, one assumes, to the Dutroux affair as the convicted serial killer lived in Charleroi in Wallonia at the time of the murders. This time there were reactions from both sides of the linguistic divide, with demands for the Belgian FA to – at last – take action. Not that Antwerp admitted any wrongdoing, preferring to say that their fans were reacting to provocation from Virton’s coach.

 

One of the results of Belgium being divided along both political and linguistic lines is that everything takes a long time to be resolved as there is a chronic lack of decision-making – witness many years of coalition governments and many months in 2008 of no government at all. Now the Belgian FA has held “extraordinary” sessions to discuss the issue and promises further meetings in June, when the FA’s rule-making bodies will be asked to incorporate FIFA’s guidelines (article 58) on racist chanting into legislation. Like the talk of a genuine division of the country into Flanders and Wallonia, these divisive stories from Belgian’s football fields are likely to run and run.

 

From WSC 267 May 2009