Belgium’s best is behind them but enough magic remains for one last shot at World Cup glory

It is the last chance for Belgium’s golden generation, but not their best chance. Not according to their captain, anyway. Belgium have spent much of the period since the last World Cup as officially the international game’s best team. Now they are ranked second on the planet, sandwiched by the South American superpowers of Brazil and Argentina.

But if Fifa’s figures suggest they are among the favourites, other numbers – principally their ages – suggest they are not. They were semi-finalists in Russia. That, Eden Hazard felt, was nearer their peak. “To be fair, I think we had a better chance to win four years ago,” the Belgium skipper said. “The team was better four years ago but still we have the quality to win games and competitions. We have a few guys who are a bit older.”

Hazard’s justification for each part of his analysis was instructive. He cited Belgium’s strengths, while being aware of the deficiencies that, logically, mean their finest opportunity has gone.

“We have the best goalkeeper in the world, one of the best midfielders in the world and we have good strikers,” he said, referencing Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku. “We are the complete team.”

Yet one department of the side went unmentioned in that answer. As Hazard said with a smile a couple of minutes earlier: “Our defenders are not the fastest and they know.” Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld are 35 and 33; for clubs and country, they have lined up together more than 350 times.

Yet neither has a turn of pace anymore, which Egypt’s speedy attackers exposed when beating Belgium 2-1 last week; one of their long-term sidekicks, Thomas Vermaelen, is now on Belgium’s coaching staff; another, Vincent Kompany, has already managed the country’s biggest club, Anderlecht.

The aged contingent includes Hazard himself: pushing 32 now, he was awarded the Silver Ball in the 2018 World Cup, deemed second only to Luka Modric among the 736 players at the last finals.

These days, he is rarely found in Real Madrid’s first 11, albeit partly because of the injuries that have interrupted his time in Spain. His body is increasingly frail but his confidence is undented. “Belgium can be world champions if Eden Hazard is in top form,” he said.

Few others would be as bullish, but maybe it reflects the extreme talent Hazard possesses; arguably Chelsea’s greatest ever player, one of the most expensive in footballing history, he has a seductive touch and an ability to glide between defenders. Yet perhaps the key word there is ‘if’. “The more matches I play the better I am,” Hazard added.

And since leaving Chelsea, his matches have been infrequent. Assuming Belgium reach the last 16, he is likely to clock up more minutes for his country than his club so far this season. After a solitary start in La Liga, Hazard was not in top form as they laboured to victory over Canada. Nor were most of his team-mates, either.

If Belgium present a fascinating clash of styles when the microphones are on, between the honesty of the players and the sunny optimism of their manager, they were so bad in their opener that even Roberto Martinez was unusually blunt. “Canada were better than us,” he said; a shot count of 21-2 made that undeniable. The second-ranked side in the world were second-best for the most part. “The first half we were very, very below par and second half was an improvement,” he said, though it was not dramatically better.

open image in gallery

Martinez’s hope is that Belgium can play their way into form and sharpness. There is the prospect of high-class reinforcements, with Lukaku ahead of schedule on his recovery from a hamstring injury. There is an outside chance he could feature against Morocco on Sunday but Belgium’s record scorer is likelier to figure first against Croatia on Thursday.

Lukaku’s injury problems, like Hazard’s, mean that only two of the golden generation’s flagship talents have been anywhere near their best in 2022: Courtois and De Bruyne. As a group, they are searching for fitness and a collective chemistry. Martinez argued a winter World Cup is impeding them. “We arrive with five training sessions which means teams are not fully ready,” he said. “This is a trend: you see teams will get ready after three games in the tournament, rather than the preparation of three friendlies and four weeks and that is dangerous because it can cost you points. We are going to see teams getting to full potential very, very soon.”

Belgium’s potential exceeds that of virtually everyone else but this is the last opportunity to realise it. And, as Hazard suggested, the 2018 semi-final loss to France may really prove the day that cost the golden generation their gold medals.