Football

Euro 2020 – Belgium Preview

Published

4 weeks ago

29th June 2024

Daniel Yurchenko

Belgium – Aging out or Underrated? Euro 2020 Preview

Euro 2020 – Belgium Preview

A lot has been made over Belgium’s golden generation and their lack of success. Sure a 2018 world cup third place is nice but it isn’t enough when All of Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne and Courtois are nearing the end of their prime. On paper this Belgian team looks worse than the one 3 years ago and have mostly been ruled out by fans and media alike. With an aging defense and a out of form Hazard, it’s easy to see why. I however think that this is the tournament that Belgium proves all the doubters wrong.

Let’s start with the midfield, Belgium love playing a 3-4-3 and Roberto Martinez is known for using a defensive wing back on the right and a more out and out winger on the left. The main problem with this formation is that it doesn’t allow De Bruyne and Tielemans to play together in the midfield two. Tielemans is coming off an absolutely incredible season in the Premier League with 10 goal contributions, where both him and Leicester City overperformed. He played over three thousand minutes in the PL and was widely considered one of the best midfielders in the world. With both De Bruyne and Witsel nursing injuries it will be up to him to lead Belgium out of a tricky group.

What’s up Belgium! ?? @BelRedDevils pic.twitter.com/B1xc0GZjq9

— Kevin De Bruyne (@DeBruyneKev) June 7, 2021

Star Man- Although Eden Hazard is the captain, it’s hard to look past Romelu Lukaku’s 35 goal contributions for Inter this season. Lukaku is finally hitting the heights that we knew were possible at Everton and was truly the best attacker in Serie A (a league with Cristiano Ronaldo in it). Lukaku has turned into so much more than just a goalscorer with him notching 11 assists in route to Inter winning the Serie A.

Difference maker- We know how talented Eden Hazard is after being one of the best players in the Premier League for close to a decade. However it remains hard to look past these last two injury riddled seasons at Real Madrid, especially his performance against his old club in the Champions league Semi-finals this season. For Belgium to have a chance at going far in this tournament Hazard needs to be back to his magical best.

Prediction- This is one of Belgium’s golden generations and is possibly the final chance to bring home a trophy in the coming years. Although the backline is aging, the front three are up there with the best in the world and I believe will shine bright on the biggest stage. My final prediction is that Belgium loses to France in the Semi finals.