The Belgians always seemed to lack temperament. Although the national team led the world rankings for three and a half years during the six-year tenure of coach Roberto Martínez, it was never enough for a title at the national tournaments. The Belgians were always given the role of the unlucky ones, both at the 2018 World Cup and at the EM 2021 they narrowly failed at the eventual winner. The players hardly showed any sign of the bitter defeats in the semifinals against France and in the quarterfinals against Italy. Due to their often expressionless state of mind, the Belgians were therefore reproached for not being snappy enough in these matches. You really can’t blame them for that at this World Cup. They are more aggressive than ever – but they mostly attack themselves.
In the course of the tournament so far, hardly a day has passed without crunching and creaking in Belgium’s national team. The quarrels have now reached such proportions that they are even drowning out Thursday’s final group game against Croatia, in which both countries will be fighting for a place in the round of 16. The inconsistencies are mainly due to frustration at missed opportunities in previous tournaments. This is now breaking through because the protagonists of the team, rightly regarded as the “golden generation” at home, realize that their quality is no longer sufficient for a last attempt to win a major title.
Also at the center of the dispute: 35-year-old defender Jan Vertonghen.
(Photo: Peter De Voecht/Panoramic/Imago)
The process was initiated by Kevin De Bruyne, Belgium’s flagship player. In a pre-tournament interview with the English newspaper The Guardians – published after Belgium’s hard-fought 1-0 opening win over Canada – said De Bruyne the team had “no chance” of winning the World Cup because they had lost “key players” and were “too old” overall. Although “good actors” would follow, they would not have the level of their predecessors who had left. Captain Eden Hazard made things worse by agreeing with his team-mate’s harsh verdict. The criticism was obviously aimed at the high average age of the starting eleven, some of which is over 30 years – which is sometimes due to the defenders Toby Alderweireld, 33, and Jan Vertonghen, 35. Both are the experience personified. They have played side by side in 364 competitive games for club (Tottenham Hotspur) and national team.
Goalkeeper Courtois threatened that the player who broke through the internals was “the last day in the national jersey”.
The visibly upset Vertonghen spiced up the debate with plenty of sarcasm in the interview zone after the desolate performance in the 0-2 draw against Morocco. In a corresponding tone, the defender pointed out that the poor attacking performance in this match was certainly related to the fact that the strikers were also “too old”: “That must be the reason, right?” Vertonghen made another dig at goalkeeper Courtois, who conceded two goals from free-kicks, one of which was ruled out for offside. The ball should “never” go into the goal this way, he thought. Courtois himself saw the error in the “unnecessary foul” by full-back Thomas Meunier.
Before the blame was assigned, there was said to have been an ugly verbal argument in the cabin between Vertonghen and the offensive professionals De Bruyne and Hazard. Romelu Lukaku was only able to prevent any physical violence at the last moment. Courtois was extremely angry that this incident was immediately made public. At the press conference before the Croatia game, he threatened that it was “the last day in the national shirt” for the player who leaked the internals to the media. Hazard, meanwhile, tried to downplay the rifts by joking that he would never mess with ‘bigger’ Vertonghen anyway.
In the past, gossip of this kind was actually only known from France – or the quarters of the English, where the players regularly faced each other with constant dislike because of their club resentment. But from the tame Belgians?
The origin of the conflict goes back a long way, the reason is to be found in the team’s lack of leadership. With the retirement of captain Vincent Kompany and the withdrawal of the equally popular Marouane Fellaini, Belgium gradually lost its backbone after the 2018 World Cup. To date, no one has been able to fill the leadership role to an equal degree, neither Hazard, Courtois, Vertonghen, De Bruyne nor Lukaku, who should form the backbone of the team. They’ve been playing together for more or less eight years and have, well, grown old together in the Belgium national team. This wouldn’t be too bad if a promising game structure would result from their existing class.
De Bruyne’s feared through ball finds no buyers
But due to the speed deficits in the defense, forechecking is hardly possible on the one hand. On the other hand, coach Martínez can’t set the team up for counterattacks either, because there’s a lack of pace on offense. Playmaker De Bruyne is most affected by this problem, and his dreaded through balls go unnoticed. He now expressed his bitterness about it.
Compared to the duels with the rebellious Canadians and Moroccans, the Belgians can expect an opponent in the Croatians who should be more accommodating. The 2018 World Cup runner-up has probably also had his best time. In addition, the controlled game system around pacesetter Luka Modrić indicates that the game could be decided more on tactics than on physique. This would help the aging Belgians – provided they show their temper on the pitch this time.