Sport
From overrated to rated – Belgium can win the Euros
From overrated to rated – Belgium can win the Euros. Belgium are currently in the midst of their Golden Generation. With the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, Eden Hazard among others, hitting their peak or currently in it, the Red Devils – on paper – look a truly special side.
It’s reminiscent of the England 2004 generation. The Golden Boys. They don’t come around often, so it’s important that they have the right steps in place to take full advantage of a fantastic squad. The World Cup in Brazil came too early for this Belgian side. They were naive and not ready for the heights they could reach. In the end, Belgium topped their group, but lost in the Quarter Finals to a very good Argentina side the tactically outwitted them.
Two years on, and a rocky European Championship qualifying stage later, they came to France as one of the dark horses of the tournament. No one thought they were outright favourites to lift the trophy, like France or Germany were, but could be contenders to pose a threat later on in the knockout rounds.
Their opening game against Italy completely threw people off. This was tipped as one of the worst Italian teams in decades. They had no ‘superstar’ like France’s Paul Pogba or Germany’s Thomas Müller, they just have a lot of mediocre-to-good players in their roster.
But what Italy do have is a big-game mentality, and are also very tactically in tune with their surroundings and other teams. That’s thanks to tactician Antonio Conte, who will be joining Chelsea after his stint with Italy comes to an end this summer. The Azzurri smashed Belgium out of the park, with 2-0 looking like a generous result for Marc Wilmots’ team.
Doubters started to do their thing and question whether this Belgium side were one for the bottle. There has been plenty of teams before it in a golden generation that have underperformed – cough, England, cough – and fans’ hopes of the country creating success faltered quite dramatically.
A 3-0 win over Republic of Ireland and a difficult 1-0 victory versus Sweden resulted in Belgium finishing second in Group E behind Italy, on a head-to-head record. Luckily for Marc Wilmots and co., this would mean Belgium were placed in the ‘easier’ side of the draw.
Now this is where they started going through the gears and playing the expansive, fluid football we’d have expected from the Red Devils. Eden Hazard had a huge part in this. The Chelsea maestro hasn’t had his best season domestically, but in this game, it was the old Hazard. He dumbfounded defenders with his dazzling footwork and electric turn of pace, when his eye is in tune with his surroundings, boy can he pick out a player or two. Everything was run through Hazard and in the end the Belgium attacker picked up a goal and an assist, along with the Man of the Match award.
It’s fair to say that when Eden Hazard is on form, he’s one of the best players in the world – behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He carried Belgium through that game on his broad shoulders and led them to an emphatic win – one of the highest scoring matches in the tournament so far.
A nation’s hopes were restored. On Friday they take on Wales, in what should be a fascinating game, but nonetheless, Hazard’s Belgium should progress to a Semi Final. And with that, they’ll either face Poland or Portugal, which again, judging from what we’ve seen, is most definitely negotiable.
Belgium’s Golden Generation are onto something if they can allow Hazard the freedom and mobility to work his magical. From underrated to overrated to rated; Belgium are on the right track.
