The team against Serbia (august 22) Keepers: Stijn Stijnen (FC Bruges), Olivier Renard (Standard), Logan Bailly (RC Genk) Defenders: Philippe Clement (FC Bruges), Mark De Man (Anderlecht), Jelle Van Damme (Anderlecht), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich/All), Carl Hoefkens (West Bromwich/Ang), Vincent Kompany (Hambourg), Anthony Vanden Borre (Fiorentina/Ita), Thomas Vermaelen (Ajax/P-B), Nicolas Lombaerts (St-Petersbourg/Rus) Mediums: Steven Defour (Standard), Karel Geraerts (FC Bruges), Timmy Simons (PSV/P-B), Maarten Martens (AZ/P-B), Gaby Mudingayi (Lazio/Ita) Attackers: Moussa Dembele (AZ/P-B), François Sterchele (FC Bruges), Kevin Mirallas (Lille/Fra), Mbo Mpenza (Anderlecht) Vandenbusche is out due to injury so Renard gets his first call. Mirallas is the other new guy. We will have to keep waiting for Pocognoli. Where is Marteens btw? How do you think Vandereycken will play?
I'm not a fan of René, but I'm not sure any other coach would be getting a whole lot more out of this bunch at this point.
Don't get me wrong, he isnot Aime. René has had a very bad run with injuries (Kompany particularly) and that has hindered his chances of forming a foundation, a group of players to build upon. But he has also made mistakes, like taking too much time to realize that some players were past their time on the national team. Guys that have played for years with very little results to show for (Goor is the captain of that squad) Now he has to show what he wants to do with the team by trying to build around young players and infusing them of anything resembling a style of play.
let's not overestimatie this group. Martens for example is pretty mediocre if you ask me, if he's supposed to be the great creative man for the next years, now matter how positive the dutch speak about him. But with Kompany, Vermaelen, Van Buyten, Dembele and Mudingayi we have some players that are mentally as well as technically good enough for the upcoming years. Let's also not overestimatie players like Mirallas, Defour, ... who still have everything to prove on the highest level
I still believe that with the five or six players you named there should be enough to do a better campaign than this one. True, injuries have been/are an issue. Now Van Buyten, Van Damme and Clement are out and Goor is in... Any predictions for the match?
Yes, but lets not get carried away, it was just one win. It's pretty clear now how much this team needs Dembele and Kompany, though. Defour and Geraerts were pretty good as well.
What do you think about Onder Turaci? I think he's much better than Hoefkens, so why he didn't play? But all in all I'm satisfied of this match
I think we have pretty much the team we will see for the next 6-7 years now, minus Goor and Simons, obviously. Goor will probably retire after this qualifying campaign, Simons might make it to 2010. We do need to get rid of Hoefkens, though. I'd like to see Gent's Gillet get a chance at that position. He can't do worse than Hoefkens.