The Weekly Take, Issue 383: The Key Word: "Unconvincing"

Belgium moved a step closer towards qualifying for the 2026 World Cup after beating Wales 4-2 in their recent Group J qualifier. Though on the surface the scoreline indicated a relatively easy victory, this wasn't actually the case.

Wales opened the scoring in the eighth minute by way of Leeds United centre-back Joe Rodon, who finished off a cross delivered by Sorba Thomas with a header. This lead didn't last long as just 10 minutes later, Ethan Ampadu's handball in the penalty area gave Belgium the chance to equalize from the spot. Belgium's legendary midfielder Kevin De Bruyne stepped forward and buried the spot-kick to put his side back on level terms.

Belgium would enter the half-time break a goal ahead after Thomas Meunier drilled a first-time shot coming off Jérémy Doku's pass into the roof of the net. Despite trailing, however, Wales had the bulk of the possession - but couldn't convert that ball dominance into goalscoring opportunities. This was once again the case throughout much of the second half; Wales were once again made to pay for failing to capitalize on this advantage. Once again, Wales conceded a penalty by way of a handball - this time from Leicester City midfielder Jordan James. For the second time, De Bruyne disposed of the penalty, all but clinching the win for Belgium.

With just one minute left in regulation time, Wales gave themselves a glimmer of hope after substitute Nathan Broadhead put the ball in the net to reduce Belgium's lead to 3-2; however, any chance of a comeback was snuffed out almost immediately when Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard scored the final goal of the match and restored Belgium's two-goal lead, atoning for his turnover that led to Broadhead's goal by doing so.

Despite Belgium now being all but guaranteed a spot in the global showpiece tournament in North America next year following this victory, this was by no means a result which will inspire much confidence about their chances of making a deep run in the tournament. On paper, one would have assumed that Belgium would've made short work of Wales - but in practice this wasn't so.

It's notable that Belgium allowed Wales to have entirely too much possession. Belgium were able to get away with it this time because Wales aren't even close to being one of the elite international football teams. However, what would happen if Belgium were to surrender 62% of the possession to their opponent in the round of 16 at the next World Cup? More than likely, they would find themselves on the flight back to Brussels in short order.

In addition, it really doesn't help Belgium's case that the second goal they conceded was an easily avoidable one that only came about via an error. Throughout this qualifying campaign, Belgium have been making way too many such errors; once again, it's only due to the relatively lower quality of their opposition that they haven't suffered all that much for them. Once again, if this issue isn't fixed by the time the World Cup comes around, Belgium might be in for a back-to-back early exit following their group-stage elimination in Qatar in 2022.

Belgium have been a team in transition for several years now following the aging and retirement of the majority of the team branded the "Golden Generation" - a title that they in no way deserved as they only made it past the quarterfinals of a major tournament once; this was an abject failure given the stratospheric ceiling that the team appeared to have had. Over the last few years, however, no sign of an upswing has been in sight - and although they may have beaten Wales this time, it was an unconvincing victory that'll certainly leave the critics with far more questions than answers.

There's still almost a year to go until the World Cup begins; however, nothing about this current Belgium team indicates that they have what it takes to turn it around and make a deep run. Their decline from a point at which they were arguably the favorites to win it all shows no signs of stopping. It might not even be all that much of a surprise if they were to once again get knocked out of the tournament in the group stage.

The Weekly Take, Issue 326: There's No New Era on the Horizon

Despite appearing to be one of the most stacked teams in the history of international football, the Belgium team that spanned the period from the 2014 World Cup to the 2022 World Cup will undoubtedly go down as one of the biggest underachievers to ever show up on the international scene. Across three World Cups and two European Championships, Belgium only made it to the semifinals once - in the 2018 World Cup when they lost to France.

If the opening match of this season's UEFA Nations League is anything to go by, Belgium's next generation doesn't seem as though it will even come close to the level of its illustrious yet underperforming predecessor. This was underscored by Belgium's tame 2-0 loss at the hands of France. Randal Kolo Muani opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark to put Les Bleus a goal ahead. In the 57th minute, Ousmane Dembélé scored France's second to make the victory safe.

At no point during the course of the match did Belgium seriously appear to even be somewhat likely to win. Despite having the bulk of the possession, Belgium did almost nothing of note with it. It was a generally lacklustre performance that proved that once the previous generation's players have all retired from international play, Belgium will almost certainly slip even further back - perhaps all the way back to the irrelevance they had found themselves in prior to the emergence of the so-called "Golden Generation" who never came close to living up to that moniker.

Just one look at Belgium's roster against France tells the story. Outside of legendary midfielder and captain Kevin De Bruyne, there's absolutely no one who particularly moves the needle in any way. Not even one member of Belgium's squad outside De Bruyne is even on the level of someone like Romelu Lukaku or Axel Witsel, let alone all-time greats like Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, or Vincent Kompany. Belgium weren't even playing against France's strongest starting 11 - Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé started on the bench - and yet were nonetheless taken apart.

At one point, it seemed as though there would be an almost never-ending stream of promising talent coming out of Belgium and that the true impact of the generation before would be to set up Belgium's future by putting the country on the international football map. While they certainly did the latter, it has turned out that the next crop of emerging talent isn't anything particularly impressive to speak of. Against France, the performances of players such as Loïs Openda, Jérémy Doku, and Dodi Lukébakio were all extremely unimpressive to say the least. Indeed, it's not likely that even one of Belgium's current players under the age of 30 would have been able to be a starter had they played in the previous era and been part of the 2018 World Cup squad.

In a post-match interview, De Bruyne lambasted the rest of his teammates as well as head coach Domenico Tedesco's tactical approach. The Manchester City player claimed that the rest of the team showed next to no effort whatsoever - so much so that he tore into them at half-time, though his words then ended up having no effect whatsoever. De Bruyne essentially implied that at this point, most of Belgium's players aren't even taking matches as seriously as they ought to be - a clearly worrying sign for things to come.

De Bruyne also implied that from a tactical standpoint, Tedesco's approach is costing them potential wins by stripping the team of all cohesion, leaving a disconnect between defense and attack. While all of this may seem excessive at first, it has to be kept in mind that these are the frustrations of a decade finally surfacing all at once - first with the previous generation's underachievement when they ought to have been perennial title contenders and now with the current squad having fallen off as far as they had.

In spite of their failure to step up on the biggest stages, Belgium did at the very least have a capable squad for the best part of a decade. This doesn't appear to be the case anymore - they look disjointed, discombobulated, and outright unimpressive. It's safe to say that Belgium's new generation doesn't offer any hope that they'll be back at the top table of international football any time soon.

The Weekly Take, Issue 263: Flat-Track Bully

The latest set of qualifying matches for the 2024 European Championship did not feature any two continental powerhouses going head-to-head. However, one match which ended up being somewhat notable due to its retrospective implications was a Group F clash in which heavy underdogs Estonia hosted Belgium.

To absolutely nobody's surprise, Belgium claimed a one-sided 3-0 victory. Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku scored the first two goals of the match within a three-minute span shortly before half-time. In the closing stages, Johan Bakayoko scored Belgium's third and the first goal of his international football career. Belgium's win allowed them to pull away from Sweden, who lost 2-0 to Austria, and take a major step towards claiming one of the two automatic qualification slots which each group allocates.

Lukaku's two goals have now put him on 75 goals for his country - a remarkable figure considering the fact that he has played just 108 international matches with many of those matches having been against top opposition at World Cups and European Championships. At just 30 years of age, Lukaku is almost certainly a lock to reach three digits before he retires. If he plays until his late 30s, Cristiano Ronaldo's all-time record of 123 international goals could still potentially be in play.

However, closer inspection reveals Lukaku on the international scene to be nothing more than a mere flat-track bully. Of his 75 goals in a Belgium jersey, only six of them have come against genuinely top-tier opponents at the time. To make matters even worse, only two of them came in either a World Cup, European Championship, or Nations League Finals: one goal against Italy in the Euro 2020 quarterfinals and another against France in the semifinals of the 2021 Nations League Finals.

On far too many occasions, Lukaku has failed to deliver when the pressure has been at its highest. At this point, one almost expects him to crumble on the biggest stages because that is what he has done time and again. From his own goal to lose his heavily-favoured Inter team the 2020 Europa League final against Sevilla to missing four relatively simple goalscoring opportunities against Croatia - causing Belgium to be knocked out of the 2022 World Cup group stage - to diverting teammate Federico Dimarco's goal-bound header in the Champions League final earlier this month before missing a wide-open header of his own soon after, Lukaku is the very embodiment of the term "un-clutch".

Lukaku's struggles under pressure are likely to sink Belgium at next year's European Championship. While Belgium are certainly not the favourites to win it all following their dismal performance at last year's World Cup, they do have the star power to at least give themselves a puncher's chance - or they would if someone other than Lukaku were leading the attack. The issue that faces Domenico Tedesco's team, however, is this: if not Lukaku, who else is at the level required to be Belgium's starting centre-forward? Loïs Openda? Michy Batshuayi? Divock Origi? At this point, it's just not going to happen - the primary reason why he has had this many opportunities is simply because, for all of Lukaku's flaws, Belgium do not have any other centre-forward who even remotely approaches his tier.

Whether for club or country, Lukaku is now a shadow of the player who thoroughly dominated Serie A with Inter from 2019 to 2021. Lukaku's decline since then has been stunning to say the least: in the 2021-22 season at the age of just 29, he had by far his worst season in many years; he has not even come close to returning to his prior level since then. He might look good in low-stakes matches against lesser opposition, but that's not nearly enough for this team which, with the exception of the 2018 World Cup, has also underperformed in major tournaments on countless occasions.

Although we have seen players break through such a "barrier" before and finally bring their top form to high-leverage matches after years of doing the opposite, such instances tend to be outliers. Romelu Lukaku's gaudy goalscoring statistics mask the reality: a team that depends on a flat-track bully as the lynchpin of the attack will never reach the highest level - something both Belgium and Lukaku's clubs know all too well by now.

The Weekly Take, Issue 229: Another Opportunity Squandered

The most recent Nations League matchday saw Low Countries rivals Belgium and the Netherlands square off in a derby match to decide which team would qualify for the Nations League Finals to be held in June. The Netherlands emerged with a 1-0 victory. Virgil van Dijk scored the only goal of the match.

For Belgium, this was the latest in a series of false dawns dating back to their arrival as a bona fide international football powerhouse in the early 2010s. In Belgium's last four major tournaments, they have been knocked out in the quarterfinals thrice and the semifinals once. To make matters worse, Belgium's quarterfinal exits in the 2014 World Cup as well as the 2016 and 2020 European Championship were ostensibly very winnable matches; indeed, one could make the case that Belgium entered all three of those matches as favourites.

The final remnants of the team which burst onto the scene with such hype almost a decade ago are now gearing up for what will almost certainly be their last World Cup - and perhaps the last in which Belgium are a genuine title threat for quite some time. Six of Belgium's starting 11 against the Netherlands featured in the 2014 World Cup in which they were once predicted to make such a splash. Eight years on, it's beginning to seem as though Belgium might never live up to all the buzz that once surrounded them.

On paper, this is a Belgium squad with the ability to go toe-to-toe with just about any of the world's elite teams. In Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, and Romelu Lukaku, Belgium have four players who have established their places among the all-time greats. On top of that, they also have intriguing blend of veterans and younger players that features the likes of Yannick Carrasco, Youri Tielemans, Axel Witsel, Thomas Meunier, Toby Alderweireld, Alexis Saelemakers, and Charles De Ketelaere. Yet, in spite of this impressive squad depth and abundance of talent, Belgium's loss against the Netherlands highlighted several key flaws.

From a tactical perspective, Belgium were thoroughly overmatched. While this was understandable to an extent given the fact that head coach Roberto Martínez was serving a touchline ban, it is not particularly likely that the Spaniard's presence in the dugout would have led to a better outcome; after all, it was almost certainly his tactics which were incorporated. In multiple key matches, most notably in Belgium's Euro 2020 quarterfinal loss against Italy, Martínez has been found lacking in the strategic department. It would not be surprising if Martínez were to be fired should Belgium once again underwhelm at the coming World Cup.

There also seems to be somewhat of a disconnect between the veterans from the original "golden generation" and the younger players. Once again, it isn't difficult to see why this is the case. The older cadre made Belgium relevant at the highest level of international football for the very first time, while the younger group entered the international game at a time when Belgium had already established itself as a force. While this might not necessarily seem to be a major issue on the surface, it has arguably manifested itself in the form of somewhat disjointed, disorganized play.

Additionally, despite having found the net in 49 consecutive matches prior to this match, Belgium were clearly in serious need of firepower up front. Despite their overall depth, they do not have a truly top-tier goalscorer outside of Lukaku, who was absent through injury. This lack of positional balance might ultimately prove to be Belgium's undoing at the World Cup, especially when facing elite defenses. There's not much good in going 18 or 19 deep if the squad has just one legitimate goal threat.

It has been an incredible decade for Belgian football - by far the finest in the history of a country which before it had seen precious little footballing success. This Belgium team should once again make a deep run at the World Cup. Qualification from the group stage is the bare minimum; a quarterfinal spot is expected. But to go all the way and bring home the World Cup for the very first time? The odds of that are, unfortunately, appearing increasingly slim.

The "golden generation" may just be fading to copper.

The Weekly Take, Issue 151: The Pressure to Deliver a Title Increases

The first matchday of qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup saw Belgium take on Wales at the King Power at Den Dreef. As was expected, Belgium recorded an easy victory, beating Wales 3-1 through goals scored by Kevin De Bruyne, Thorgan Hazard, and Romelu Lukaku.

With Euro 2020 (yes, it will still bear that name) approaching and the World Cup just over a year and a half away, there are two more chances for far and away the greatest era in the history of Belgium's national team to culminate in a first-ever tournament victory. After years of near-misses, doing so would be especially sweet.

Considering Belgium's current standing within the international football landscape today, the national team's record prior to the 2014 World Cup is often overlooked. Up to that point, it had been utterly abject. Only once had Belgium even made it to the quarterfinals of a World Cup; they had even failed to qualify for the prior two.

Belgium's record at the European Championships told a similar story. After losing to West Germany in the 1980 final, Belgium would not advance beyond the group stage again until 2016. In fact, from 1984 to 2012, Belgium did not even qualify for a single European Championship; the only one in which they participated was Euro 2000, which they co-hosted with the Netherlands.

Times have clearly changed; players such as Lukaku, De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, and Thibaut Courtois have turned Belgium into one of the world's football powerhouses over the past seven years or so. However, seemingly burdened by the weight of history, they have frequently faltered on the biggest stages when the lights have been at their brightest.

The most glaring example of this was their 2018 World Cup semifinal against France. This was a match which many considered to be the tournament's "true" final; the winner would almost certainly go on to beat Croatia in the final. With a potential World Cup title on the line, Belgium could not reach their peak level of play; with a 1-0 loss, they let perhaps their best chance to win a major international tournament slip through their fingers.

There is a possibility that redemption may come at Euro 2020. Belgium have been placed into a relatively simple group containing Denmark, Finland, and Russia. None of these teams should pose them much of a threat. Unfortunately for Belgium, there is a possibility that their first knockout-stage match could be a difficult one. Assuming they finish first in Group B, Belgium have a 1 in 4 chance of playing against the third-placed team of Group F in the round of 16.

Ordinarily, this would not be an issue, but this is not the case in this tournament. Group F is the "Group of Death" containing Portugal, France, and Germany. Not only are these teams all good enough to beat Belgium; they also happen to be the three most recent European teams to win a major international tournament. Given this fact, it is not unimaginable that Belgium might wilt under the pressure while these teams might not.

After the European Championships, Belgium will play against France in the UEFA Nations League semifinals in October. Victory against Les Bleus would then see Belgium face off against Italy or Spain in the final. With just two wins required, this could very well be Belgium's best chance at a title. But once again, the question remains: can Roberto Martínez's team keep their composure and overcome what seems to be a major mental block?

Not much information can necessarily be gleaned from Belgium's results in the World Cup qualifiers. As a top seed, they were placed in Pot 1 and thus handed a relatively easy draw. Wales, the Czech Republic, Belarus, and Estonia should all be dispatched without much difficulty. Once again, the real test will come at the tournament itself in Qatar. However, after coming up short in 2014, 2016, 2018, and potentially twice more in 2021 and with many of their core players near the end of their peak years at that point, there may at that point be more questions over the Belgium team than ever before.

It is for these reasons that perhaps no other contender is under the pressure to win next year's World Cup than Belgium. If they do not rise to the occasion, that could be their last chance gone.

The Weekly Take, Issue 89: Time Is Running Out

As Euro 2020 approaches and the qualifying stage reaches its climax, every team which might still qualify for the tournament will be doing all they can to do so, while those who have already qualified will be attempting to prove why they should be among the contenders to win the title.

One such team which has already qualified is Belgium.

In the latest round of Euro 2020 qualifiers, Belgium registered an impressive 4-1 victory over Russia. Eden Hazard's two first-half goals served as the catalyst for the rather one-sided victory.

However, at this point fans of the Belgian team should be cautious. Ever since they first emerged as a genuine threat to win titles, they have made a habit out of looking extremely impressive in qualifying and the early rounds of tournaments, only to fall apart when the stakes are at their absolute highest.

During the 2014 World Cup, Belgium were drawn into Group H against Russia, South Korea, and Algeria after having cruised through qualifying. As expected, they made it out of the group with absolutely no problems, winning all three matches. Then, in the round of 16, they faced the United States, where they won a hard-fought but rather unimpressive 2-1 extra-time victory. Belgium then proceeded to crash out in the quarterfinals after losing to an Argentina team which had been underperforming up to that point of the tournament and whom many expected Belgium to beat.

Euro 2016 provided a similar story. After advancing from a group containing Italy, Ireland, and Sweden, Belgium took Hungary apart in the round of 16 to set up a match against Wales in the quarterfinals. Once again, Belgium would come up short against a supposedly inferior opponent, losing 3-1 to the unfancied Welsh team.

During last year's World Cup, Belgium again found themselves in what seemed to be a relatively easy group; they were drawn against England, Panama, and Tunisia after once again breezing through the qualifiers. They won all three group matches, scoring nine goals in the process. A round of 16 win over Japan from two goals behind was followed by a 2-1 victory over Brazil to set up a semifinal against France. With the less-favoured teams of Croatia and England facing off in the other semifinal, many believed that this was the "real" final; the winner of this match would go on to win the tournament. In what was their best chance to claim the biggest prize in football, Belgium once again stumbled in the spotlight as they were eliminated by a 51st-minute Samuel Umtiti goal. Although Belgium would go on to beat England in a group-stage rematch for third place, it would prove to be scant consolation for a team which had now blown three clear chances to win a tournament for the first time in the country's history.

The current Belgian team is overflowing with talent. Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, and Kevin De Bruyne are genuine superstars around whom a title-winning team can be built. They also have an excellent supporting cast featuring the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Axel Witsel, Nacer Chadli, Michy Batshuayi, Yannick Carrasco, and Thomas Meunier among others. Roberto Martínez has also done an excellent job as head coach since taking over in 2016.

That being said, at this point, one has to wonder if these constant near-misses have gotten inside the Belgian players' minds. In terms of sheer talent and star power as well as overall depth, Belgium were at or near the very top among all teams in their last three major tournaments, but fell short each time including twice against teams which they had been expected to beat.

This is a team which is beginning to run out of chances. Their stars do not have many prime years left; thus, Euro 2020 might represent their last tournament as a top-tier title contender for quite some time. There is a distinct possibility that this astonishingly talented generation, the likes of which Belgium had never before seen, might very well end up with nothing to show for their efforts when the story of this era of international football is fully written.

Has time run out on this Belgium team? Not yet, but the hourglass is ever closer to becoming empty.