Add Bakkali, Musonda, Januzaj & Jr. Malanda ... Courtois & Lukaku are also eligible ... our U-21 can even be greater.
Is Wilmots playing hardball or is he seriously considering an exit after Brazil? Like Van Gaal, he might take a year off. I'm unsure that he's just trying to get better wages ... could be a sign that our FA isn't giving the Brazil campaign its full support. Replacing Wilmots after years of instability, especially the quick succession of managers, isn't ideal ... the next manager should be carefully selected and adhere to high standards.
He's playing hardball to improve his current contract. I very much doubt he will walk away after the WC. Maybe after the EC in 2016. It's actually worrisome to consider there is a dearth of good candidates once he steps away. Who of the current crop of managers in Belgium would you trust with this team? Only Dury and Preud'homme.
What would your (so not what you think Wilmots will do but what you would do) current World Cup squad be? These are my locks (if healthy). Goalkeepers: Courtois Mignolet Casteels This department is pretty much decided bar an injury to one of those three guys Defenders: Kompany Lombaerts Vertonghen Van Buyten Van Buyten proved to be a reliable back-up to Kompany vs. Scotland and Croatia. The other three are top, top centerbacks who are important to their clubs. Midfielders Witsel Dembele Attackers Hazard Lukaku Benteke De Bruyne Mertens Mirallas These guys are on the bubble: Defenders Alderweireld: hasn't played enough for Atletico and has made mistakes when he did play Vermaelen: barely played all season for Arsenal Vanden Borre: decent season for Anderlecht but so unpredictable Pocognoli: is unreliable at the best of times and has barely played since Christmas Meunier: good season for Club Brugge but he has only been a fullback for a short time and defensively suspect at times Midfielders Simons: probably important to Wilmots but can he really contribute on the field? Nainggolan: does well at Roma but hasn't impressed for Belgium Defour: spends too much time on the bench for Porto Chadli: has spent most of the season on the bench at Spurs, though he is still a useful player to have around Fellaini: a poor and injury-riddled seasons at Manure, but still a physical presence and unorthodox type to have on your squad Thorgan Hazard: very talented, but a bit of a dip in form since New Year and no experience outside of Belgium Hans Vanaken: a guy with a vision for the game and a complete set of skills (bar perhaps pure pace), but he plays at a midtable Belgian club Attackers Batshuayi: perhaps the most talented forward we have, but too unproven internationally Vossen: usually a good finisher but not having the best of seasons Ferreira-Carrasco: needs to be given a chance even though we have many who can play in his position already These guys should be left home: Ciman: he never was any good and it is embarrassing that he earned this many caps
Although I'm not a fan of Gillet (regardless of his 6 month ban) ... he might have been the one that kept spirits high. Casteels just looks bored but I can't really blame nor praise him for anything. Proto could even add more fuel to the fire ... so I'd sidestep him. Still do we have safe choices (e.g. an appeasing 30+ year old GK) ... imho 'locker room skills' are more important for a 3rd stringer who hopefully never will be put between the sticks. In the end I don't care enough if it's Casteels or another GK. I wouldn't select Poco (I even prefer Van Damme thanks to his mentality) ... when you're taking 7 or even risk taking only 6 defenders with you ... I'd also go with Kompany, DVB, TA, Vermaelen, Lombaerts & Vertonghen. The choice between Meunier & VDB is more of a training camp decision ... atm I'm leaning towards VDB ... let's see how he does in the upcoming friendly. On the whole I agree with what you've written. Simons shouldn't make the bubble ... I'd even put most of the young guys ahead of him (get chemistry started early but they'll warm the bench during matches) ... what we really need now are creative players that can open up bunkering sides ... I'd go with these guys: Witsel, Dembele, Nainggolan, Defour, Fellaini, Chadli and T. Hazard If I'd add someone to those 6 ... Michy. He's decent enough for Standard but I agree that he shouldn't go to Brazil.
Our FA is offering to add 4 more years to Wilmots' contract and according to HLN this will suit Wilmots perfectly.
U-17: Group 6 (host elite round: Scotland) ... our little guys had already qualified for the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship elite round and recently drew their first match against Romania (pot 1 team). Tomorrow they'll need a good result vs Scotland ... on Saturday they'll play in their final elite round tie vs Bosnia. U-19: Group 7 ... we also qualified for the UEFA European Under-19 Championship elite round which kicks off from 28 May onwards. The U-21 EURO qualifier vs Serbia wasn't a success ... our young guys can only win their final match in September and hope for a beneficial result in the Serbia - Italy tie.
I'd add that he's also an [pun]Essole[/pun]... has he figured out where the gas and brake pedals are located already?
About the UEFA Nations League ... I'm guessing that NTs will be divided into 4 'large tiers' (= groups/divisions) according to the 'UEFA national team coefficient rankings', generated by calculating: 2014 World Cup (Qs and final tournament) - 20% of total weighting EURO 2016 (Qs and final tournament) - 40% of total weighting 2018 World Cup (Qs) - 40% of total weighting Although the format hasn't been finalized yet ... most likely the top 12 - 14 NTs will end up in the premier tier (maybe even the top 16) ... Belgium together with the likes of Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, England and Switzerland sailed through the Brazil2014 qualifiers undefeated and seem to have a head start but there are still many matches before the final ranking ... so the coefficient rankings will be hugely important once (after the 2018 WC Q play-offs) and from that day onwards it's about promotion/relegation? If this is the case ... we could get into the top flight division from the very beginning ... it does mean we need results in the next 3 competitions (Brazil2014, France2016 and Russia2018 ... including Qs and final tournaments) ... if FIFA had opted for the Holland/Belgium bid instead of the Russia bid, this could have given us a boost ... but hey woulda, coulda, shoulda ... more than before, it makes me want a W in the Belgium - Russia tie this summer.
Here's a mock-up of possible UNL divisions based on the same UEFA national team coefficient rankings that were used in the draw for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying (December 2013 edition): Tier 1 (12 NTs) Group A: Spain, Russia, Bosnia Group B: Germany, Greece, Ukraine Group C: Holland, Portugal, France Group D: Italy, England, Croatia Tier 2 (13 NTs) Group A: Sweden, Serbia, Turkey Group B: Denmark, Ireland, Slovenia Group C: Switzerland, Hungary, Israel Group D: Belgium, Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia Tier 3 (13 NTs) Group A: Romania, Latvia, Wales Group B: Austria, Finland, Bulgaria Group C: Poland, Scotland, Estonia Group D: Montenegro, Armenia, Belarus, Iceland Tier 4 (16 NTs) Group A: Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Gibraltar Group B: Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, San Marino Group C: Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, Andorra Group D: Moldova, Macedonia, Faroe Islands, Malta => NTs play each other home and away between September and December (double headers) => the 4 bottom teams of each tier face relegation (except in tier 4) and the 4 group winners of each tier are promoted (except in tier 1) => 4 group winners of tier 1 qualify for a final four competition (maybe the same for lower tiers?) => 1 NT from each tier can land a EURO2020 berth (TBD after play-offs in March 2020 between NTs that haven't qualified yet) => the format still has to be finalized and it looks as if a ULN trny will also take place ahead of a World Cup (maybe the one ahead of Qatar2022 will be the first with promoted/relegated NTs).
I'm not a fan of this UNL trny ... I mainly care about introducing new players into our squad and this format will make that task harder (unless we decide that this friendlies trny is less important). Most likely it will have to mature so we'll have to wait and see how much NTs will care about it in the beginning (although I expect it will lower the silly amount of subs we see today and other experiments + our FA will aim to increase revenue and they'll probably put extra pressure on our manager ... only the non-UNL friendlies will be less risky). To a lesser extent I dislike the UNL because it will limit our opportunities of playing against non-UEFA sides. The biggest prizes seem to be those play-off spots (and final 4 EURO2020 berths TBD in March 2020) ... competing in an easier division wouldn't be the end of the world as featuring in EURO2020 generates a lot more revenue than a friendlies trny in its infancy. Probably UNL will be an extra opportunity to boost our coefficient and maybe even climb the FIFA rankings as the idea is to organize the UNL in WC cycles too ... although you'd like more chances to gain experience playing against non-UEFA NTs in WC cycles (also if our FA wanted to boost our FIFA ranking ... the opponents it should schedule friendlies against are often non-UEFA sides) ... at least we'll face more NTs with a similar ranking in the UNL.
Does anybody know why our youth academies are brimming with Belgian talents? When you add the talents that already moved to a major European club ... unsure if we've ever been blessed like this before ... at the same time more and more clubs are investing in youth academies or they are upgrading their training facilities. Our FA claims that we have to thank them for overhauling our youth development after the underwhelming performances of 1998 & 2000 ... does that mean we have to blame them too for not being ready when we were one of the co-hosts in 2000? Regardless a decent youth development system is only one of the contributing factors and I'll partly credit them for doing well with the Beijing2008 generation ... Kompany, Vertonghen, Vermaelen, Fellaini, Mirallas, Dembele, et al. didn't receive all of the benefits while mistakes were made ... in what was then an experimental youth development system. With the more recent additions, the likes of Hazard, Courtois, De Bruyne, Benteke, Lukaku, et al., our (senior) squad is looking increasingly impressive. We might even be better in the forseeable future if our most promising talents can unlock their potential ... I feel that on a global scale, a small country like Belgium should be proud of their talent pool and the way it helps talents to develop ... although some of these kids will fail trying to live up to their potential, I'm confident that those who succeed can at least rub shoulders with the best of their generation on an international level ... Bakkali, Januzaj, Pereira, Bossaerts, Denayer, T.Hazard, Malanda Jr., Tielemans, Bruno, Praet, Schrijvers, Vanaken, Ferreira-Carrasco, Cavanda, Meunier, Lestienne, Origi, Mpoku, Batshuayi, Charly Jr. Musonda and many more ... the quantity & quality of prospects has never been this high and keeps on rising ... while in the 90s we were lagging behind and by sticking to outdated concepts we didn't produce much ... today the future of Belgian football looks bright. Usually it takes about a decade for reform to show its impact ... seeing that locating/detecting, training and promoting our talents to the highest possible level is constantly being improved upon ... I expect that we still have to reach our peak ... it's very much a work in progress but it's yielding encouraging results ... raising the bar even further with the most recent reform makes me wonder where we'll be in 10 years time.
UNL update ... at the moment we're in 1st Division (UEFA ranking based solely on Brazil2014 Qs) ... was to be expected as only Germany & Holland had better results ... we're 3rd followed by Bosnia, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, England, Russia, Italy and Ukraine ... during Brazil2014 I'm expecting France to overtake Ukraine and if Croatia performs well there could be 2 new first Division teams. On a sidenote: not only were UEFA & the FAs looking to make friendlies more lucrative ... it's also very likely that NT kits will offer more visibility to sponsors (according to this article in Dutch) ... so from Sept. 2018 onwards our players could be wearing Jupiler branded Rode Duivels kits ... best fit is Duvel though ... but it's unlikely that Moortgat will spend big.
I really felt bad when mourinho kicked de bruyne out of chelsea for no reason. A midfield with de bruyne and hazard is a dream to any coach. But mourinho is the special one! he does not even like lukaku! This chelsea team has nothing but eden hazard and without hazard mourinho looks like "THE FOOLISH ONE". LOL. Chelsea is going down because of a single guy. His ego is getting better of him nowadays.