Appearances: 12
Best finish: Fourth (1986)
Manager: Roberto Martinez
Star Player: Kevin de Bruyne
Whether it be Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne in midfield; Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku up front; Tottenham duo Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen at the back; or Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois in goal - it reads like a computer game dream team with the purse limit switched off.
Luckily, for their opponents however, Belgium’s team of stars have never managed to get it together as a unit. They only reached the quarter-finals of the last World Cup, and in a total 12 appearances their best finish is the semi-finals in 1986.
Even in the European Championships they have only ever made one final (in 1980) in five attempts, getting eliminated in the quarters in 2016.
Poor management is often cited as a reason for this underachievement, but now they have coach Roberto Martinez and his assistant Thierry Henry on board, and a more experienced and determined collection of players to really rival the highs of the 1980s squad, which beyond defender Eric Gerets and keeper Jean Marie Pfaff, really wasn’t a team of names.
It is Martinez and Henry’s Premier League fame and their mainly Premier League-based players that really gives Belgium the benefit of familiarity over England - England could say that too of course.
Otherwise, they have a relatively straight forward group with Tunisia and Panama from which to base a solid run.
In qualifying for this World Cup, Belgium unsurprisingly finished unbeaten and top of an unchallenging group ahead of Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Cyprus and Gibraltar.
Like England - who it’s often said get no barometer of where they are from these pointless and elongated qualification campaigns against minnow opponents - Belgium come in untested, but also unrested with the majority of the squad also plying their trade in England where there’s no winter break.
Perhaps, again like England, that is why they both come into big tournaments so jaded, or maybe it’s just down to the old adage that a collection of individuals don’t make a team.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Koen Casteels, Thibaut Courtois, Simon Mignolet
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld, Dedryck Boyata, Laurent Ciman (to replace Kompany if unfit), Leander Dendoncker, Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen, Jan Vertonghen
Midfielders: Yannick Carrasco, Nacer Chadli, Kevin De Bruyne, Mousa Dembele, Marouane Fellaini, Adnan Januzaj, Youri Tielemans, Axel Witsel, Thomas Meunier
Forwards: Michy Batshuayi, Eden Hazard, Thorgan Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Dries Mertens.
