9 players competing for 6 spots ... he was being considered as a back-up for Witsel ... Fellaini and Defour can fill in if Witsel has to be subbed ... Wilmots likes to remain loyal to Fellaini & Defour.
Wilmots has praised Defour for his contributions (during the Qs) and his mentality ... Radja will get more chances in the near future but so far he has often looked shaky (doesn't cope as well as Steven with the pressure?). PS don't get me wrong ... I would have liked Radja to be a part of our team in Brazil.
Yes, I understand. Anyway, every coach has his fixes.. Otherwise, Simons retired from the NT? Anthony Vanden Borre played so well at Anderlecht? He was a great talent some years ago, but then he decreased. I supposed now it's good.
I feel sad for radja but defour's performance for NT has been very good. Seems he always performs better for NT than clubs.
An open invitation has been extended to Simons (in the next few days he can consider if he wants to be part of the staff or prefers another job at our FA) ... also Simons will receive plaudits during one of the upcoming friendlies for his achievements and dedication to the Rode Duivels. Like Kompany at the time, AVB was one of the most promising talents (for both players, their Rode Duivels debut came at a very young age) ... sadly AVB turned into a kind of prodigal son (squandering his talent) ... now he seems to have returned and is proving he still has it ... mind you he's only 26yo.
According to Jurgen's whiteboard we can add a sparring session (behind closed doors) on 12/6 ... reportedly there will also be 18 training sessions during our preparation: PS Courtois & Alderweireld probably won't feature in the LUX friendly ... Mignolet and AVB to start?
Not too surprised by the selection. I wish Wilmots wasn't so dogmatic about having set numbers of defenders and midfielders; Nainggolan could have easily replaced Ciman. I doubt it'll impact much on the campaign, but it's a shame for a guy like Radja who probably had the best season of any of our midfielders. Simons isn't a real surprise, he's a guy who realistically cannot anything on the pitch anymore at the WC level. No point using up a players slot on him. Could be useful on the technical staff though. Divock Origi seems talented. Gert Verheyen (who's opinion I trust most in Belgian football alongside Boskamp and Vandenbempt) says he's massively talented. Yes he's only got 5 goals, but he plays in France where goals are hard to come by and he looks bigger and faster than Batshuayi. So no problems with that decision. Off topic: an in depth interesting article on Grantland (an ESPN site) about the rise of the Rode Duivels: http://grantland.com/features/world...incent-kompany-eden-hazard-marouane-fellaini/ It talks a bit much about the divisons in Belgian culture and all that stuff, but he does bring up some interesting stuff with regards to the development of Belgian footballers since 2001 under the guidance of Michael Sablon.
Defenders tend to end up as unused subs at WCs ... although I would have liked less than 8 defenders, I feared that Wilmots wouldn't take less to Brazil ... don't think Ciman will get time on the pitch ... have to agree that Radja deserved to be selected (+ more likely to be missed than Ciman) ... T.Hazard also would have been better than bringing Ciman. Hoping Origi surprises me ... still I feel that he's too young ... both Benteke & Lukaku are raw talents ... Michy & Origi even more so ... regardless we can put a very decent XI on the pitch. For the BEL v LUX tie, I'd like to see more of these guys: Definitely want to see Origi's and Januzaj's debut asap (maybe Adnan to debut against Sweden with Lukaku as CF) ... either Chadli or KDB (Kevin has been hitting top form lately and Chadli could do with a confidence booster) ... I'm hoping AVB is a starter ... and if Vermaelen has returned to full fitness, use him as an LB instead of Vertonghen ... reportedly Vermaelen is 1 of Wilmots' certainties (needs to reach top form ahead of Brazil though).
Our prep. schedule according to Nieuwsblad.be: Dinsdag 20 mei 10.30 uur : Training in stadion Genk Woensdag 21 mei 17.30 uur: Training in stadion Genk Donderdag 22 mei vrije dag Vrijdag 23 mei 11 uur: Training in stadion Genk Zaterdag 24 mei 11 uur: Training in stadion Genk Zondag 25 mei 17.45 uur: Training in stadion Genk Maandag 26 mei 20.45 uur: BELGIË-LUXEMBURG in Cristal Arena, Genk Dinsdag 27 mei ’s Avonds vlucht naar Stockholm in Zweden Woensdag 28 mei 11 uur: Training in Stockholm Stadium (Zweden) Donderdag 29 mei 11 uur: Training in Stockholm Stadium (Zweden) Vrijdag 30 mei 11 uur: Training in Stockholm Stadium (Zweden) Zaterdag 31 mei 17 uur: Training in Friends Arena (Zweden) Zondag 1 juni 20.30: uur ZWEDEN - BELGIË in Friends Arena Maandag 2 juni 13 uur: Training Dinsdag 3 juni vrije dag Woensdag 4 juni 11 uur: Training in ‘sportcomplex Molenhoek’, Westkapelle Donderdag 5 juni 11 uur: Training in ‘sportcomplex Molenhoek’, Westkapelle Vrijdag 6 juni 11 uur :Training in ‘sportcomplex Molenhoek’, Westkapelle Zaterdag 7 juni 20.45 uur: BELGIË - TUNESIË in Koning Boudewijnstadion, Brussel Zondag 8 juni 11 uur: Training Maandag 9 juni vrije dag Dinsdag 10 juni 10 uur: vlucht naar Sao Paulo 19 uur: aankomst in Sao Paulo
Insiders from the gambling industry assert that Belgium's main weakness = we waste too many chances ... I tend to agree with them ... so this quote from Wyscout worries me: "He has exceptional balance and poise on the ball and even if his final delivery is sometimes disappointing, there is huge potential here." - Origi's scout rating: on his way to the top ... in Brazil we really need our guys to make every chance count.
My concern is defense. vermaelen, vertonghen,ciman,pocognoli,van dan borre..........not in their pick form. Now the question remains on whom wilmots will depend. My choice for central defenders are kompany and lombaerts, side backs alderweild and vermaelen(although in off form but has leadership quality and he is faster than vertonghen at this moment). Any suggestions?
If Vermaelen is fit (and it's looking that he is) + shows decent form ... he'll be one of Wilmots' certainties ... I'd prefer to use Vermaelen as an LB and Vertonghen as a CB but expect that Wilmots will stick to what has worked well in the qualifiers ... best defensive record in Qs and I really don't care about friendlies with makeshift defenses. The FBs will have to focus more on defending instead of flooding forward ... we don't have guys that can constantly churn out 80m bursts and there isn't a huge drop in quality between our FB options (except Ciman who probably is behind Alderweireld & AVB in the "RB pecking order") ... imao Vertonghen is better at distribution than any of our other CBs while Vermaelen has been prone to positioning mistakes (which he can recover from with speed and are less of a risk out wide) ... yet I'm guessing Vermaelen will still get the nod to pair up with Kompany (Vertonghen and Alderweireld as our FBs). PS don't forget that Vermaelen suffered many injuries, Wenger made him advance up the pitch while Vermaelen was blamed for the vulnerabilities that were a result of him not being able to get back in time, before the Koscielny - Mertesacker partnership the cover he received was much worse, etc. ... I hate excuses but I'm also reluctant to write Vermaelen off (should be entering his prime) ... eventhough he didn't get much time on the pitch this season, he did a fine job when he was on it.
Folks, Please excuse the hijacking of this thread for World Cup ticket information, but I thought this forum with Belgium fans makes sense for this info. I have 3 x Cat 1 tickets for Belgium / Algeria that my group does not need anymore and, to be honest, we'd just rather sell them for a good price to true fans of that game than give them back to FIFA for the 10% hit. In short, we're selling them for $135 each. I have the tickets and can send them to any place they need to be. If you know of anyone who'd like to go to that game, PM myself or email soakey77@hotmail.com
OK the elections are behind us now ... back to more important issues ... then again we're playing LUX and possibly Wilmots wants to use almost the entire squad (in which case we wouldn't lose ground in the FIFA ranking ... as too many subs voids a result which will be negative even if we win): - GK = Mignolet (unless the scan reveals that he isn't fully fit) - Wilmots said that only Vermaelen & Vertonghen will play for 90' (at least 6 subs ... we'll see if there are more soon) - Alderweireld to start and AVB to sub after 45' - KDB allowed to roam freely - Mertens won't play because of injury - Mirallas, Defour & Dembele are available Wilmots' love for Standard's golden triangle is still strong ... although he mentioned that Dembele did a fine job and KDB will feature in midfield against LUX.
Line-up Belgium : Bossut, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Witsel, Fellaini, De Bruyne, Mirallas, Hazard, Lukaku #bellux— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) May 26, 2014