Belgian Golden Generation Out To Justify That Tag In Japan Encounter

In the battle to avoid finishing top of Group G, it was Belgium who were the losers after their 1-0 win over England. Following a first half yellow card apiece for Youri Tielemans and Leander Dendoncker, it seemed the Red Devils would finish runners-up due to England’s superior fair play record and with it, earn an easier route to the final, only for Adnan Januzaj to crop up with a second half wonder goal to secure all three points.

Belgium now face Japan on Monday evening as the going gets tough for Roberto Martinez’s side and it could prove they face pre-tournament favourites Brazil, who face Mexico earlier in the day, in the quarter-finals. However, while Belgium were handed an easy draw in the group stages, with wins over Panama and Tunisia securing a last-16 berth, winning breeds confidence and the Red Devils go into the knockout rounds of Russia 2018 without fear.

While Martinez had many scratching their heads with his team selection, with the exclusion of Radja Nainggolan and inclusion of Nacer Chadli raising eyebrows, and it may well prove that the Belgium boss is wrong with the choices, but he has done well to lead the European side to the last-16 without so much as breaking a sweat.

It took some time to break down Panama, but once Belgium took the initiative, they coasted to a 3-0 win. Tunisia may have given them some scares, yet Belgium still romped to a 5-2 win, while a 1-0 victory at England’s expense came after Martinez had made nine changes to his starting XI, with Mousa Dembele, Youri Tielemans and Michy Batshuayi among those to come in.

As the business end of the tournament kicks off, though, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Dries Mertens and Eden Hazard, four key attacking players, are expected to come back in and with the quartet, among others, ready to fire on all cylinders, there is no reason why Belgium can’t go all the way and lift the World Cup. With Germany crashing out at the group stages, and Argentina, Spain and France all faltering, Belgium, whose performances have been very good to date, are primed to capitalise.

Leading from the front, only Harry Kane (5) has scored more goals than Lukaku (4) at the World Cup so far, this coming despite the Manchester United striker firing off just five shots across 149 minutes of action. Of the 18 players to have scored more than one World Cup goal, only Kane (every 30.6 minutes) is scoring a goal more frequently than Lukaku (every 37.3 minutes), as per WhoScored.com, at the time of writing.

Hazard’s four successful dribbles per game, De Bruyne’s 4.5 key passes per game and Mertens’ knack for scoring is just a reminder of the eyewateringly brilliant supporting cast for Lukaku in the final third. Further back, too, Martinez will have been buoyed by the returns of Thomas Vermaelen and Vincent Kompany. For a period, Jan Vertonghen, Dedryck Boyata and Toby Alderweireld were Martinez’s only primary centre-back options, with Dendoncker playing out of position in a three-man defence against England signifying his brief defensive woes.

Yet with no pressing injury concerns coming into the last-16 stage, Martinez has the luxury of a fully fit squad to call upon. Indeed, Belgium are beginning to boil to the surface nicely and at just the right time too. There is usually a concern that teams give their all in the group stages and when the matches really matter, they splutter and crash to defeat, but without needing to move beyond second gear, Belgium are well placed to really make an assault on the World Cup.

The only issue is that Brazil, too, are warming up nicely for the knockout stages and while both sides have to navigate Japan and Mexico, respectively, before a quarter-final clash between the pair, it’s a potential heavyweight tie that could prove crucial in the grand scheme of things. Martinez may be an inexperienced international manager, but he has a settled system with players familiar in one another’s style that has experience in landing trophies, which is key. De Bruyne won the Premier League with Manchester City, Hazard the FA Cup with Chelsea, while Lukaku and Mertens both secured second-placed finishes with Manchester United and Napoli, respectively, so the players are well versed in shouldering the demands of supporters.

Marc Wilmots struggled to deliver success with the golden generation of Belgian talent and while Martinez wasn’t the popular choice as his successor, he’s worked well guide them so far without the need to give his players the extra motivation at times required. Belgium, though, have the extra level to take their game and we can expect to see them kick it up a notch after the carnival that was the group stages drew to a close on Thursday. With the going getting tough, expect Belgium to get going, so much so that Martinez may ultimately deliver the World Cup.