From our special correspondent in Seville,
Is there more Red Devils than being ranked first nation in the world, flying over your hen but still finding a way to show some excitement off the pitch? Where it is customary, at a certain level, to hide their weaknesses as much as possible, the Belgians have decided to expose them after a clear start. Because three matches and three victories are not enough for Thomas Vermaelen, tired of going back and forth between Saint Petersburg and Copenhagen, the two cities of their group B.
“This format is unfair,” he lamented last Tuesday. You have teams that play all three games in their own country and others that have to go back and forth. Not all of this movement is good for the players’ bodies. “And to conclude, ironically enough,” we will not complain, it is like that. But that’s exactly what you did, man.
Let’s get along well. The central defender of Vissel Kobe is right on the merits of the matter, namely that this Euro is unfair. And the Belgians can have it doubly bad when we know that Brussels was one of the host cities at the very start of the Euro project in 74 countries. But when we see the difference with the speech of the future Portuguese opponent who explains, through the voice of his coach, that the 26 loustics are doing well and that they all want to go to coal despite two days of rest less and one war wounded victim of a technical knockout on an MMA outing by Hugo Lloris, we say to ourselves that in terms of the image returned to the opponent, some of Roberto Martinez’s men can still progress.
The prism of the seum
Among them, Thomas Meunier and his new theory that we do not yet know how to interpret: for the former Parisian, “winning this Euro would be more valuable than winning the World Cup. The level is even higher than in 2018. ”There would not be a hint of complex in this hidden message for a former executioner of the World Cup in Russia? Belgian comedian Alex Vizorek doesn’t see it that way.
“Meunier, you can hear what he says. But I have the impression that France interprets everything through this prism of the seum of 2018. We are not a team that cries, but a team that knows itself less strong than three years ago, because the cadors have not had a great season except De Bruyne, who arrived with a mask because he was bowled in the Champions League final [et Lukaku]. “
However, it always comes back to the idea of putting together a safety mattress in case things go wrong. Because deep down, Belgians don’t really like being favorites – that’s what they are – a matter of superstition. Benoît Poelvoorde had a funny sentence about this before the Euro: “I know that every time we have a good chance of winning something, it’s very Belgian, we wallow like shit from the start, was he laughing at Cine-TV-Revue. We have all the ammunition and everything, and we manage to fall into a hole! “Ha, shit, I sprained my ankle! Finished! ” The number of times I’ve heard that: ” This time we have everything to achieve the feat and then the next day, all day: ” But how is it possible, how we got planted like that? ” It’s called the missed acts, and it’s really very Belgian! “
Learn to win
Very Belgian and more generally typical of foreign teams in the concept of awards. Come to think of it, Portugal which awaits it in Seville was also to be placed in this box of fatalistic losers and it was not until year 0 of the Eder era for the other nations to hold the Selecção in check. and that for her she considers herself a favorite. Alexandre Teklak, Belgian consultant for RTBF:
“You only know how to solve this problem by winning and Belgium has never won. When Martinez arrived, one of the first things he said was that you have to build the culture of winning, and that also comes with the titles won. And it is very true. The people who win are often the ones who are used to winning because it is in their culture. France is used to winning, and the Belgians are not. Unfortunately, we even have that at the level of the national youth teams. We have great players, very good national teams but when the decisive moment arrives, we do not take the leap. “
But since it has to start somewhere, we still want to believe that it will go through this golden generation, admittedly a little declining defensively, but strong from the experience of executives like Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku who they cultivate this winning club. “Lukaku recently said something like ” I know that I am one of the world’s top attackers ”, continues Teklak. He answered that, and he is right, it is indisputable. He dares to assume it. When you see Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo, it’s like that, these guys have something more because they dare to assume their role of leader. And that makes all the difference in a team. But alas, we can still see it in the way some devils respond to the press compared to others, it really remains a feeling of complex for some players. “De Bruyne, Hazard and Lukaku are responsible for passing on their ambition to the less convinced.