I thought I would make this thread for the rest of the qualification campaign. We won against the "mighty" Azerbaijan, but it still wasn't the greatest of performances, if you ask me.
This kind of games are always hard, because the away team tries some form of italian "catenaccio". Even great teams have a hard time scoring against. I didn't care much for Poland 2 - Portugal 1. I thought that the best scenario was Portugal cruising to first place and Belgium fighting for second, but as always you can't count on Portugal to do anything
Anyone who saw Soetaers this weekend (and this season in general): How does this guy not start for our NT? Seriously. Do we have anyone who comes close to his ability at that position? And I'm not even a Genk fan.
What are your thoughts about Ibrahim Maaroufi? He plays for Inter and now will play for the NT, choosing it over Marooco, his other nationality. http://www.dhnet.be/dhsports/article.phtml?id=159295
Well, Vandereycken didn't even bother with 23 players for the next match... very strange: Goalkeepers: Geert De Vlieger (SV Zulte Waregem), Stijn Stijnen (Club Brugge KV), Brian Vandenbussche (SC Heerenveen). Defenders: Mark De Man (RSC Anderlecht), Carl Hoefkens (Stoke City FC), Philippe Léonard (Feyenoord), Daniel Van Buyten (FC Bayern München), Jelle Van Damme (RSC Anderlecht), Anthony Vanden Borre (RSC Anderlecht), Thomas Vermaelen (AFC Ajax). Midfielders: Koen Daerden (Club Brugge KV), Gaëtan Englebert (Club Brugge KV), Karel Geraerts (R. Standard de Liège), Bart Goor (RSC Anderlecht), Gaby Mudingayi (S.S. Lazio), Timmy Simons (PSV Eindhoven). Forwards: Stein Huysegems (Feyenoord), Emile Mpenza (Al Rayyan), Luigi Pieroni (AJ Auxerre), Kevin Vandenbergh (KRC Genk). (from UEFA site) Any thoughts? I thought that Buffel could have been called. This game against Poland, at home, asks for a win but I think this squad lacks differents options at front.
our two best players are injured/suspended. Our national team is a totally different team without Dembele and Kompany. Leonard sucks at Feyenoord and Deschacht is playing his best games of his life. Not that i am a Deschacht enthousiast, but he can't be overlooked. Maarten Martens plays every week nowadays at Louis Van Gaal's AZ , he is the creative midfielder we're missing. But now, let's play with 4 defensive midfielders!
I'm more upset about Chatelle and Soetaers lacking from the selection. And Cornelis and Pocognoli. They'd do a better job at right and left back than our current selection. Damn, Vandereycken is making me defend Genk players. Frankly, I've had it with Belgian coaches. All of them seem to use insane selection policies. The recent ones, at least. I've come at a point where I'd gladly take a decent foreign coach ahead of them.
Yes, honestly it's just plain stupid that Vandereycken isn't selecting Genk players because, for what I read, he had troubles with the club before he was on the national team.
True, get rid of vandereycken and call up some players who do not play in pub teams like quatar for the money. Boskamp for trainer!
So Vandereycken has been given an ultimatum by the KBVB: get a result in the next match or get sacked. Too bad for him the next match is away to Portugal. I won't miss him much, I think considering the punch we lack up front, it's a crime he doesn't call up the few in form Belgian players we have for those positions. The down side is, who will turn this mess around? I can't see anyone. I thought we hit rock bottom after the whole failure to qualify for Germany debacle, but we're sinking further still, it seems.
Most teams -not elite- can fail to qualify to a competition, because sometimes it comes down to group strenght, injuries and bad luck. The real issue now is how badly Belgium is playing. That's something to be worried about because there're players, there's potential, but the results aren't coming. The whole Genk issue with Vandereycken should be enough to sack him.
It is a mentality issue in Belgium. We need a dutch person at the helm of the team to change things around. The players are there, we just need to change the attitude to a Qualifying round. The amount of times I heared a Belgian team or the NT coach say we should be ok to finish 3rd in the group and secure Uefa cup football, or we might not beat Spain and Portugal but we should be able to finish 3rd by beating the smaller countries, at least at home. I never understood the humility thing, why play at all if you are not playing to win! You always have a shot at winning (any given day) And that is the difference with the dutch like for example PSV and Ajax who do perform in Europe whilst their teams are not necessarily packed with Talent Anderlecht or Standard does not have. They are equal if you look at the talent but it lacks the winners mentality. Last world cup nobody could field a stronger team then Brazil or Argentina, yet none of them were in the final because other teams wanted it more. And that is where I think Johan Boskamp could come in handy!
Belgian team is over for a while. I don't see the next generation with enough talent. The dream team of the 80's is gone. The next is not visible yet, meaning nothing good 'till next 12-15 years....