EURO 2024 PREVIEW: BELGIUM

Belgium now enter a new era under Tedesco, with alot of young exciting players can Belgium entertain the neutrals and go far in this tournament. What will be the health of KDB and can Lukaku carry the good form in the qualifiers to the Euros.

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0:00 - Intro
0:23 - New Era Begins
2:48 - Tedesco test
4:05 - Squad
6:46 - Tactics
8:55 - Prediction

[svendemol]

I think they maybe will go further this time. Because there isn’t any pressure on them anymore. World Cup 2014 was the same thing. New generation, later called “The Golden Generation” and they reached the quarter finals without any pressure. So this is the position where they are at their best. Don’t underestimate our talented team. But I can be wrong and this can turn out very badly. So fingers crossed.

[ArielRamirez-vxkh]

Love the Belgians. They have a true love for the game.

[diablesrougesactu]

I am Belgian, and here is a summary of the Courtois situation:

After the World Cup, the new national team coach, Domenico Tedesco, decided to revamp the team by sidelining certain players. Eden Hazard had decided to retire, leaving the captain's armband vacant. Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, and Thibaut Courtois aspired to this role, but ultimately, Kevin De Bruyne was elected by the players as the new captain, with Lukaku and Courtois as vice-captains. According to Thibaut, Domenico Tedesco did not speak to him during the first gathering, which he did not appreciate.

However, Courtois was reportedly disappointed by this decision. During a match against Austria, he was unhappy because De Bruyne was absent, and Lukaku wore the captain's armband even though it was Courtois' 100th match with the Red Devils. He decided to leave the gathering after the match, citing an injury. Courtois was supposed to be the captain for the second match of the gathering.

Tedesco revealed the incident to the media, which caused a scandal. Courtois then published an awkward statement attacking the coach and the fans, followed by a video where he apologized to the fans but not to the coach, whom he finds disrespectful.

Shortly after, Courtois suffered a serious injury and announced he would not be able to play in the Euro. Many believe he could have recovered but chose not to play under Tedesco. Additionally, he is already back and could play in the Champions League final.

It's also worth noting that several players (Vertonghen, Castagne, Carrasco, and Meunier) have publicly sided with Tedesco.

Thibaut Courtois has also made provocative tweets, liked questionable posts, and removed the mention of "Belgian Red Devils" from his Instagram.

[mastersharkYT]

To be honest we need Courtois. But not his ego

[Optidorf]

Witsel has returned to play centre back, not as a six which was his previous position. But yes, that defense is a total disaster while until fairly recently it was always Belgium's greatest asset. Reaching the quarter final will be the highest possible goal with this squad, but it's certainly possible if they are a bit lucky with the drawing.

[shaddapforever]

DOKU will be FIRE in this tournament for BELGIUM.

[juliend.r.]

as a belgian, I expect Quarter-finals, but don't forget that most of the games we played last year was without KDB. When he was there, we played a better football than over the last 5 to 10 years. SO I don't really know what to expect, without KDB I say at least the round of 16, with KDB it depends on who we gonna face in the 1/4 finals. But I did the predictions on the telegraph and I got Belgium as European champion. So... (remember Italy was a surprise in 2021)

[joachimdekimpe]

They also won in a friendly against Germany. The first half was really impressive

[miguuuuuz]

Lol, Courtois can stay in Madrid. Little kid's upset he couldn't be the captain in one of the friendlies

[Yanniko_zhechev]

As a belgian I think that the squad now is very good, except from the defence. Everything will be good, if the team can keep the ball, because it will get dangerous when the others have a counter attack. I think quarter finals will be sure and semi final will be very good

[freddiemh]

As a belgian im very excited to see whats my team can offer...witsel back in the defence is so cool. I hope we can go as far as possible ! We're not here to reach the QF, we're here to win !

[benoitguillaume]

Good review. As a Belgian I’m very exited to see what this team is capable of. We will already see the results after the preparation phase with witsel (which is gonna play defence) and De Bruyne (which is back in the squad for the first time in a loooong time). Tedesco we surely try to apply the tactics we will be playing later on the competition so I’m looking forward to these confrontations (Montenegro and Luxembourg).
But I still think that we are too weak in defence and can’t compete against the greatest teams. Don’t forget we might play France in the quater finals if they finish first of their group.

[Jajajasper]

Might see a 5 at the back.

Casteels/Sels
Cuyper
Onana-De Bruyne
Trossard-Lukaku-Doku

[ChristophWalks]

Pronunciation is amazing man. I love how you broke it down country by country.

[davyhaegeman]

So far Tedesco consistently tried playing a young central defender alongside Vertonghen. It was either Wout Faes or Zeno Debast (and Koni De Winter once). All of them showed too much weaknesses against the stronger teams they faced so far. Tedesco announced he wasn't happy with that, so he got Witsel back. Witsel - Vertonghen in central defense could be a solid fix for this tournament, although it is unclear if Witsel will be a starter or if he is there to keep the youngsters sharp.

About the Courtois situation: you can't replace him in terms of class, he is simply the best keeper around. But so far, not a single player from the entire squad made any remarks against the decision of Tedesco. I guess Courtois really overplayed his hand with his diva behaviour. But I'm not to worried about the squad, they will have a solid keeper regardless.

During the first half against England the team was very imbalanced, we were 150% lucky that England didn't score an early goal. The second half was actually rather good when Tedesco decided to put Mangala and Onana as a buffer in front of the vulnerable defense. I think this will be the way to go to keep the team balanced. You could compare it to what France did in WC 2018 with Pogba and Kanté. That was rock solid.

For the attacking part, the team now relies heavily on De Bruyne and Lukaku. The match against Germany really was a five star performance by those two. After that De Bruyne got injured for a long time and they surely missed him in many of the other games. Although they did get the results every time, they didn't play that great without him.

When we look at the young attackers: Doku is a really exciting player who should be more than capable of making a difference in this tournament. Lukebakio also performed well in almost every game. But they also will need those world class KDB assists to really shine.

Belgium is no longer a favourite, but remains a dangerous outsider. Quarter finals should be well within their capabilities. After that, they can still surprise us all.

[tommot]

9:32 tedesco destroyed Germany with belgium already

[dawkinsbeagle]

As a Belgian i can tell you that the Courtois situation is anything but simple. Yes he might very well the best keeper we ever had, but he has been causing drama since the first day he donned a Red Devils shirt and now it has finally exploded to the point where it was poisoning the squad and Tedesco had to cut him loose. Courtois has been acting like a spoiled child ever since and I don't see how we can reintegrate him unless he has a massive attitude shift. Yes we may miss his talent in the tournament but there is only one man to blame for that and that is Courtois himself, not Tedesco or anyone else. Dude cares only about himself not his country or the national team.

[ShoeFixers]

This is the team I believe will start most games:

Casteels
Castagne - Witsel (or Vertonghen) - Theate - De Cuyper
Onana - Tielemans
Trossard - De Bruyne - Doku
Lukaku

[runesleeuwaert]

I think the young defenders will want to prove themselves, they have the quality to do so and a good performance during the euros might get them a move to a big league.

[piknick]

Casteels will probably be the main goalkeeper, he's really good from Wolfsburg and Tedesco knows him from Germany. Debast might even start instead of Faes, because Vertonghen and him have been playing together for 2 years now at Anderlecht as a centre back pair. They know each other inside and out.