GK: Koen Casteels (Hoffenheim/GER), Thibaut Courtois (Atlético de Madrid/ESP), Simon Mignolet (Sunderland/ENG). DF: Toby Alderweireld (Atlético de Madrid/ESP), Laurent Ciman (Standard/BEL), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit/RUS), Thomas Meunier (Brugge/BEL), Sébastien Pocognoli (Hanover/GER), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich/GER), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal/ENG), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham/ENG). MF: Nacer Chadli (Tottenham/ENG), Steven Defour (Porto/POR), Moussa Dembélé (Tottenham/ENG), Marouane Fellaini (Everton/ENG), Radja Nainggolan (Cagliari/ITA), Timmy Simons (Brugge/BEL), Axel Witsel (Zenit/RUS). FW: Zakaria Bakkali (PSV Eindhoven/NED), Christian Benteke (Aston Villa/ENG), Kevin De Bruyne (Chelsea/ENG), Eden Hazard (Chelsea/ENG), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea/ENG), Dries Mertens (Naples/ITA), Kevin Mirallas (Everton/ENG), Jelle Vossen (Genk/BEL).
ummm Simon Mignolet (Sunderland/ENG). Liverpool????? Anyway after seeing Belgians I am changing my original statement 5:0
Macedonia Wales Scotland Serbia Croatia Colombia is stronger than any of these at most average teams that Belgium defeated in its qualifications. Then it's not a surprise that Colombia kicked those belgium butts. I hope Japan will be at least better then the first three in that list.
... nah, the defenders that weren't injured should have done this to Falcao: Van Buyten (B.Munich), our second string CB, should be fit again soon and probably starts in our friendly ... our first string CB is Kompany (Manchester City) but because he's injured, he wasn't selected. Probably Lombaerts (Zenit) will take over from Vermaelen (Arsenal) who hasn't returned to form. Wilmots (Belgian manager) will most likely make other changes as he had planned to try out different rosters.
Bubble bursted ... nah tactically Wilmots will make less risky choices after this winter and hopefully all our players return to form when they're needed most (end of this season). Now we can afford to experiment or are forced to do so because of injuries ... even when looking ahead to WC2018 seeding, there's no better time to suffer 1 or more losses. I'm pretty relaxed about the result of the previous friendly and our upcoming friendly ... I'd start worrying if in 7 months time we somehow unlearn to be successful. Besides 'you learn more from the matches that you lose than from those that you win' ... win or lose our friendly is an opportunity to improve the chances of both our teams in Brazil. The previous game was the first one that we've lost in a long time and it even wasn't a competitive match. With regards to Belgium qualifying in a mediocre group: the teams in the 'Belgian group' had the highest average ranking of all UEFA groups. It was actually Croatia's group, as top seeded team, while Belgium came from pot 3. Serbia, drawn from pot 2, is often disrespected ... still a defense that includes Ivanovic (Chelsea), Subotic (Dortmund), Nastasic (Man City), Kolarov (Man City), Vidic (Man Utd), etc. demands respect. In an away game, that Serbian steel was taken apart by Belgium (0-3) + in Brussels too (netted 2 more). I didn't see too many group leaders that had to go up against these kind of defenders ... also when you look at the 2nd strongest team in their groups. Even the groups 'minnow' boasts a 100M man in Bale and one of the hottest players in the EPL, Ramsey ... a cut above the likes of Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, San Marino. Regardless of the result in these friendlies, we'll be having fun ... I wouldn't mind flying under the radar ... the only thing this hype has caused, is that the element of surprise isn't there. We'd rather be underestimated than overestimated.
Ah, no, please ignore that comment, trust me And I don't think Japan will beat Belgium at home, but I hope to see a good match
Belgium actually performs better in away games than in Brussels (all of our squad's regulars play abroad and the pressure at home seems to get under the skin of the most creative and/or youngest players) + the makeshift defense + our manager rewarding players for past performances instead of recent form + risky tactical choices + inexperience means we'll slip up from time to time (our young players have shown maturity beyond their years for club & country in competitive matches ... so it was bound to happen and then a 'meaningless' friendly is the best time to 'slip up') + ... makes me feel that Japan is less of an underdog than you think. Eventhough Japan has been more or less on a rough ride in 2013, playing against your team is by no means a walk in the park. The one game that glued me to the screen was Japan - Italy during the Confed. Cup ... you had Italy on the ropes and if you had eased off the gas pedal, you would have beaten Italy (most likely with an impressive score). On the whole Japan is a worthy opponent for teams around the world and an everpresent force in AFC. PS in your opinion which were the 'tougher' groups? Belgium was drawn into a group that potentially already had a group leader (top seed Croatia) and a runners-up (pot 2 team Serbia) ... Balkan countries are always tough because they live & breathe football like Brazilians do and we faced 3 of these 'European Brazilians' ... while 'slipping up' against the likes of Scotland and Wales even happens to the best teams around (the Scots are sturdy defenders that know how to park the bus and counter efficiently while Wales even boasts world class or high quality players that can be decisive ... both teams know how to play to their strengths + in an organised manner to cover for their weaknesses). You'd need at least 4 'tougher' groups to call the other groups mediocre ... actually the negative connotation implies those groups are even less than average in which case you'll need more than 4 groups that were 'harder' to qualify from. PPS you can drown in a lake that on average isn't that deep ... I do not claim Belgium was drawn into the hardest group, yet those that say it was mediocre have a hard time coming up with grounds that support such an assertion even when they benefit from hindsight. I visit this forum to share, to be silly at times and mainly because I'd like to be enriched ... this wouldn't be the case if I were too stubborn to accept other views ... even without convincing proof, I'll at least respect that we can differ in our opinions about this point or another.
It's true, we beat France in Paris but our away track record isn't exactly too good. It will depends if Japan gets on the pitch with the shaky legs or with an aggressive attitude. Results speak for themselves, like Serbia beating Germany at the world cup, "average" teams like Scotland destroying Croatia. Any european pools had his dangers. It was definitely not mediocre. Oh, you couldn't have said it any better. It's exactly my feeling
I watched the Japan - Holland match ... could have easily been a win for Japan and if you had started the 1st half as you did in the 2nd half with Kagawa, you would have won with a comfortable goal tally ... scary stuff. At first it seemed that Holland would confirm the progression their squad had made in the past 1-2 years while Japan squandered too many chances (few lessons to take away from this encounter) ... however when your squad stopped messing about towards the end of the 1st half, they asked some hard questions which the Dutch simply couldn't answer. The Dutch squad on display was almost as good as it gets ... Sneijder most likely wouldn't have been an improvement on Van Der Vaart on the day but a fit Van Persie definitely is much better than their other CFs. With the introduction of Endo & Kagawa in the 2nd half Japan did improve on the starting XI while Depay was about the only player that caused a bit of danger on Oranje's behalf. Van Gaal has stated that he'd like to play without N. De Jong (only adds value when defending) ... however it seems too early to phase him out as the defense is still too shaky ... when Brazil2014 kicks off Van Gaal probably has his defensive affairs in order (it's the least I expect from a manager of his stature and the same complaints were taken care of in 2010). Belgium's back 4 suffer when we miss the likes of Kompany. Against world class strikers like Falcao our injury ridden defense will be in trouble. Still they held their own untill the manager made risky tactical choices after a 1st half in which we wasted too many chances. Our RB is the weakest link. Alderweireld has been the best fit so far yet he's not a natural RB. A debutant (Meunier) was tried out and he did fine ... eventhough he's a converted winger and he doesn't have enough experience at RB (injury sidelined him for an extended period). Yet he also made a crucial mistake ... if he had looked at how high the other defenders were playing ... Falcao would have been offside. Instead the tactical plan for the 2nd half backfired and taking more risks exposed a defense that had never been tried out before. Courtois is our undisputed No. 1 yet Mignolet needs to get to know the defenders on our NT too + because our second stringer (Van Buyten) was ill and doubts remained if he could replace Kompany (injured) in time, our manager decided at the last moment to move Alderweireld to CB (3th choice) + our other CB (Lombaerts) was also injured and his replacement (Vermaelen) still has to return to form (slowly picking up minutes on the pitch at Arsenal and our NT) + in fact Vertonghen was the only 1st stringer in that back 4 (he isn't a natural LB and on the day his performance wasn't as good as it usually is). Hopefully our back 4 will be stronger in our friendly ... yet Kompany will always be missed. Also I'd like to see Wilmots reward players for showing excellent form at their clubs instead of using these friendlies to grant time on the pitch to players that are warming the bench at their clubs. Especially Benteke & KDB (+ to a lesser extent Lukaku & Dembele) showed that their current poor form at club level doesn't magically disappear at NT level. Fellaini, Defour, Vermaelen and Alderweireld did ok eventhough they struggle to get time on the pitch at club level. A few players weren't selected although they showed excellent form yet Wilmots could still have used those on the bench that have hit their stride at club level. When there are too many excuses, there are also too few lessons to be learned. PS when the Samurai Blue find their footing from the start and the Red Devils are unleashed ... our friendly could turn out to be a very exciting game ... as I said earlier: Japan is by no means an underdog.
I'm a Belgian (of mixed cultural heritage: Belgian-Brazilian on my fathers side and of Italian descent on my mothers side) ... I also support Oranje unless it's a derby of the low countries (in any case I'd like them to improve).
My girlfriend is Argentinian-Italian = beautiful genes ... having fun in Belgium but it's getting chilly right now ... can't wait for the holidays to start so we can spend X-mas in Cuba.
Too many Belgian players are having a dip in form at the moment and doubts will be cast over the likes of KDB if they remain largely unused at their clubs ... making the 'right' choice during the January transfer window could be their best shot at showing Wilmots why they should be included in the Brazil2014 squad. In KDB's case interest from Schalke, Wolfsburg and Leverkusen would allow him to showcase his abilities in the Bundesliga again +/- UCL.
Are you belgian guys so worry of a possible defeat to search any possible scapegoat before the match even begins? Cuz it will be two losses in a row an unbearable weight for your high hyped world cup ambitions? Don't worry, Japan will let you score 2 or 3 times, you need only to defend at your best and nothing unpleasant will occurs ^^
I don't think they are worried...are just friendly games...and with Colombia, they didn't played so bad...Belgium hit the post twice... and also Colombia is a strong side.
As I said before I'm pretty relaxed about the result of this friendly ... when it means improving our chances in Brazil and tempering the expectations, I'd even prefer losing our friendly. Especially when you look at how our squad operates, we'd gain more of an advantage when we're underestimated instead of overestimated ... e.g. compared to Holland who feel good about being the favourite, we'd be more comfortable in the role of an underdog. Actually I should encourage as many people as possible to sell my team short ... yet that would rub me the wrong way ... still this is 'merely' perception ... on Brazilian grass we'll have to provide hard proof that we can outplay, outmuscle and outrun the teams we face. PS in your friendly against Holland everything seemed to go as 'expected' ... you can compare what was written in the relevant threads in here and in the Dutch subforum. At first it looked like this friendly would yield few lessons ... then the 2nd half happened.