Can Belgium be World Cup 2014 Contenders?

Personally I feel if they have a good coach & if their players grow & develop they can be the next big NT in World Football, possibly major contenders for WC 2014.

They dont have a World Class Forward or Goal-Keeper but their Mid-field & Defense is Superb Quality. I dont think any team in World Football has such a very balanced Midfield & Defense

GK
Alderweireld Komapny Vermaelen Vertonghen
Dembele/Witsel Fellaini
Hazard/Chaldi De Bruyne Mertens/Mirallis
ST

or maybe a play a 4-3-1-2 with two False 9's, like to Wingers. IMO Lukako is not World Class yet.


So maybe -

Dembele Fellaini Witsel
De Bruyne
Hazard/Chaldi Mertens/Mirallis

IMO Hazard is an NT flop & De Bruyne is their Main Player. Kid is a Superb Talent and the real deal. Chelsea has got a gem & Hazard if he can become a False 9 he will keep his place or else carry the bags as Sub. Mata will probably nail 1 spot, DeBruyne the other & its betwen Oscar & Hazard & Oscar so far has done better in CHL & big matches. Hazard is good for mid-table teams. And with Roman I am sure next year Chelsea will bring another Huge Winger of Attacking Mid-fielder too.

Anyways Quality team for Belgium. Witsel-Dembele-Fellani and very good & complete players. Alderweireld-Vertonghen are good & CB's who can defend allright & protect the defense. Kompany in form is World Class & Vermaelen is very good at his peak.

Merterns/Mirallis/Chadli are quick pacy Wingers who can give width/trickery & play as Second Strikers.

Quality team IMO. All these guys, the Vertonghen's and the Mertens's, the De Bruyne's & the Dembele's can furthur grow & be Top Class players.

Belgium IMO is the next BIG NT.

Thoughts???

Tibhat courteous?

Rebelles.REUS.rex wrote:Tibhat courteous?

ERRR??

Does it mean you agree with me that Belgium are WC 2014 Contenders???

I want to see them winning against a big team first...tbh,can't see Belgium getting past quarter finals if they are lucky to get an easy group and round of 16 draw.I don't rate their attack,no consistent goalscorers and hazard plays like crap whenever I watch him at int level

Ganso wrote:I want to see them winning against a big team first...tbh,can't see Belgium getting past quarter finals if they are lucky to get an easy group and round of 16 draw.I don't rate their attack,no consistent goalscorers and hazard plays like crap whenever I watch him at int level

Its good they have dumped their crap coach who couldnt get them to qualify for the Euros.

Merterns of PSV is decent and De Bruyne is Awesome everytime I see him play whether it is Belgium or for Werder

On paper, decent squad..

But, that doesnt mean they will do good because we have learned that big names dont necessarily bring you success.

you're talking about wc quarters... You have to qualify first..
And Belgium is in a group with Croatia, and potential play off opponents are: Spain/France, Portugal, Bosnia, Sweden/Germany, Montenegro/England etc...

LOL no, they can't even qualify for Euro's I hardly even expect anything out of them for the quals

Belgium are currently top of their group ahead of Croatia. Even if they come 2nd they might face say a Greece or a Montengero or a Bosnia,Israel,Norway who are all beatable.

Even France for that matter. France are decent but if Belgium can string together their team of good individual players they can beat France.

Who knows?? Maybe not WC 2014 Contenders. But Quarter-Finalists or say the Uruguay of 2010.

Well they've certainly got the players to be contenders, but they need the chemistry there too.

I mean the GK's good, WC defense, top midfield and Lukaku/Mirallas aren't bad attackers.

It also depends on the draw.

No.

I've been hearing about the supposed Belgian greatness since Mpenza brothers. They are not good enough.

They have been developing quality CB's, GK's, CM's,AM's and Wingers over the last few years their problem lies in fullbacks and strikers.

They don't really have a quality fullback or striker to speak of.... sure they have an abundance of CB's that can play fullback like Vermealen and Vertonghen but you don't want to be relying them as fullbacks in the long term.

As for strikers they have Benteke and Lukaku and while they show some promise neither really look like being good enough for the very top.

That's without mentioning that they have a lot of different speaking players from different cultures, like the dutch speaking players or the french speaking players etc etc.

Which have caused rifts in the past and quite frankly continue to do so, similar how the French have had problems mixing in the african born players and the french born players together with harmony.

If they can get past these cultural differences and actually find players for these problem areas, or find a system which fixes their limitations then sure they can be dangerous but i some how doubt it.

Although they can draw inspiration from the Spanish,who too had problem areas and found a system which fixed thier supposed limitations.

Who also had cultural issues between the Catalans, Basques, Valencians, Castilians etc etc but have since come good for the well being of the country.

So not all hope is lost lets wait and see.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:They have been developing quality CB's, GK's, CM's,AM's and Wingers over the last few years their problem lies in fullbacks and strikers.

They don't really have a quality fullback or striker to speak of.... sure they have an abundance of CB's that can play fullback like Vermealen and Vertonghen but you don't want to be relying them as fullbacks in the long term.

As for strikers they have Benteke and Lukaku and while they show some promise neither really look like being good enough for the very top.

That's without mentioning that they have a lot of different speaking players from different cultures, like the dutch speaking players or the french speaking players etc etc.

Which have caused rifts in the past and quite frankly continue to do so, similar how the French have had problems mixing in the african born players and the french born players together with harmony.

If they can get past these cultural differences and actually find players for these problem areas, or find a system which fixes their limitations then sure they can be dangerous but i some how doubt it.

Although they can draw inspiration from the Spanish,who too had problem areas and found a system which fixed thier supposed limitations.

Who also had cultural issues between the Catalans, Basques, Valencians, Castilians etc etc but have since come good for the well being of the country.

So not all hope is lost lets wait and see.

Great Post.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:They have been developing quality CB's, GK's, CM's,AM's and Wingers over the last few years their problem lies in fullbacks and strikers.

And I thought you talked about another black, red and gold/yellow team

BTW, personally I also think Thibaut Courtois looked pretty good whenever I saw him for Atlético, so the GK position is nicely set for Belgium.

completely agree with Mole, the best Belgian RB is Ritchie De Laet.....plays for Leiceister City in The Championship, wasn't good enough for United, and after that its probably Vermijl who is in United reserves still.

don't think you can be competitive in international football without true full backs who can move up and down the flanks, and get balls in. No doubt there midfield will be class with De Bruyne Dembele Fellaini Witsel even Defour, but unless Lukaku turns into the next drogba as he was touted, Mirallas is still there best option at ST

LOL there is a similarity with Germany in that regard.

As for the GK spot they also have Simon Mignolet who despite playing for my clubs local rivals i have to admit he is a very good shot stopper.

So they have 2 very capable GK's leading up till 2014.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:
Although they can draw inspiration from the Spanish,who too had problem areas and found a system which fixed thier supposed limitations.

Who also had cultural issues between the Catalans, Basques, Valencians, Castilians etc etc but have since come good for the well being of the country.

No,no,nono my friend. Spain didn't find a system, they just copied Barça.
Also, Spanish NT never had problem between catalans, basques, etc.

There was a rift in the camp mate i'm not saying Catalans and Basques had a problem with each other i'm just saying there was rifts due to various cultural differences.

Madrid players never got on with Barca players and others etc etc.

Also your quite correct on the system thing lol.

They're stacked in the CB and MF area, and theoretically could cause an upset, but they still look like a group of individuals under one flag for me.

Spain did not blindly copy Barca's tactic. More like a modification. They are more direct,dont have a Messi