Belgium

Almost every month a new Belgian supertalent emerges somewhere in Europe. When the Belgians started to invade Premier League, they were recognised as one of the strongest nations currently in Europe.

Not many questions

With great expectations comes great responsibility and Belgium needs to deliver if they want to return home with their heads up. Group stage exit is out of question and many hope that The Red Devils will at least go to the quarter-finals.

They have both the potential and the ability to do it. Marc Wilmots was very thorough with his call-ups for the World Cup and there are not many question marks with the team he chose. Some would say that Mousa Dembele had a worse season than Radja Nainggolan, but on the other hand the former played in all qualifying games and he knows the tactics that Wilmots employs.

Defence in crisis?

Individually, the Belgians have not had a great season, but maybe they set the bar very high last year. Jan Vertonghen was chosen for the Premier League best XI in 2012/13 but now he is a shadow of himself, making easy mistakes and almost forgetting how to position himself on the pitch. Toby Alderweireld moved to Atletico Madrid and won the championship but was a squad player, not a defensive cornerstone like he did for Ajax. Vincent Kompany is a great defender, but is prone to mistakes. Thomas Vermaelen is the club captain at Arsenal but lost competition for the starting place with both Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.

And there’s of course Marouane Fellaini, who epitomises Manchester United’s failure this season.

Offensive hopes

But on the other hand, there are the likes of Eden Hazard, who continues his progress and under Jose Mourinho became much better player than last year. Dries Mertens moved from PSV to Napoli and did well. Kevin Mirallas is feeling much better in Roberto Martinez’s expansive Everton side, same can be said about Romelu Lukaku.

Wilmots also called up a debutant in Adnan Januzaj, who is maybe the only bright side of United’s season. His creativity, pace and technique is quite amazing to watch, but he is a very fragile player and looks like a boy still.

Lukaku is supposed to start games as a striker with Christian Benteke injured but Wilmots called up Divock Origi of Lille. “We saw Origi against Bordeaux, Olympique Marseille and PSG. He is fast, he has technique and a great mentality. He is strong one-on-one and I see enormous potential. His profile is closest to that of Benteke,” the coach said.

Belgium goes to Brazil with some question marks in defence but Wilmots is likely to go with the same bank of four that he did during the qualifiers: Alderweireld, Kompany, Vermaelen and Vertonghen. Why wouldn’t he? Belgians conceded just four goals during the qualifiers – the same as England, Greece and Ukraine. Nobody conceded less.

Playing style

Belgium plays with either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 and they are generally an attacking, possession based team but should feel comfortable also when counterattacking. They have enough quality and depth to fulfill their duties.

Coach

Marc Wilmots retired as player in 2003 and immediately started coaching his last team – Schalke. He lead them in eight games, winning just one. His record was not much better in Sint-Truiden in 2004/05 season: he won just five games out of twenty (he lost ten). In 2012 he became the coach of Belgium and he delivered, winning eight games in ten qualifying matches.

Schedule and BETEGY predictions

17th June, Belo Horizonte: vs. Algeria (2-0)

22nd June, Rio de Janeiro: vs. Russia (1-1)

26th June, Sao Paulo: vs. South Korea (2-1)

Belgium has an 72% chance of qualifying from group stage – seven points and better goal difference should put them ahead of Russia. Then, in the Round of 16 they should meet Portugal, but they’ll lose 1-2 and return home after four games.