Belgium about to blossom

Published on 10/09/2012 12:00

The players and the coach will not admit it, but there is something special about the current Belgian side and they should really be targeting something more than merely qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

Belgian media and the public are waking up to the fact that they have a potentially golden generation after a dry period of a dozen years without a World Cup or Euro finals presence.

They are, however, hard pressed to explain the abrupt change. At Scotland’s Group A rivals’ training ground, newspaper journalists mostly felt the sudden blossoming of talent was more due to luck than planning, albeit aided by experience gained from playing outside Belgium. Ten of the 25-strong squad play in the English Premier League and one team official pointed to the quality when he said: “I’m not sure any of the players from five to ten years ago would make it into the side today. 
Today, you’ve got to be playing for a big foreign club to make the cut.”