Graham Ruthven: Has Belgium’s golden generation missed their chance to win the World Cup?

NO team has spent more time at the top of the FIFA rankings over the last three years than Belgium. Roberto Martinez’s team are now considered an international football superpower and widely seen as one of the frontrunners to win the 2022 World Cup. This is a Belgian golden generation, after all. The country hasn’t had it this good since the 1980s.

And yet there’s a good chance Belgium’s so-called golden generation has already missed their chance to win a major honour. Martinez’s side might have gone through World Cup qualifying unbeaten, they might have finished third at the last World Cup four years ago, but the Red Devils arrive in Qatar as an ageing group on a downward trajectory.

The golden generation 📸✨@BelRedDevils | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/vmdnwoA4CR

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 20, 2022

This isn’t to say Belgium don’t have good players. They boast arguably the best goalkeeper in the game at this moment in time – Thibaut Courtois – and have a generational midfield talent – Kevin de Bruyne – to dictate things in the centre of the pitch. De Bruyne in particular could be as influential for Belgium as any other player for any other team at this World Cup.

But as a unit, Belgium are weaker now than they were in 2018. Back then, the likes of Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku were also at the peak of their powers. Now, Hazard is a shadow of his former self having started only eight league matches for Real Madrid over the last season-and-a-half while Lukaku is struggling for fitness after missing the last few months through injury.

Martinez wants his big names to believe they can rediscover their best form at the 2022 World Cup, this isn’t a belief shared by those individuals on the basis of what they have said before Belgium’s opening match against Canada on Wednesday. “In 2018, I was maybe in the top 10 in the world,” said Hazard. “Am I going to come back to it? I don’t think so.”

Many hoped Charles De Ketelaere would help rejuvenate Belgium for the 2022 World Cup with the 21-year-old likened to Kaka in the way he operates between the lines of midfield and attack, but he is currently struggling for consistent form following a summer transfer to AC Milan. It’s not clear how De Ketelaere fits into Martinez’s system if Hazard is still seen as a first team figure.

👀 “This Belgium squad was under massive, unfair pressure in 2018.”

🇧🇪 “This really is the golden generation of Belgian football!”

Roberto Martinez is full of confidence ahead of the World Cup with Belgium…

Can they go all the way? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/SfuzxSzNrr

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 27, 2022

“It’s quite clear that we’re talking about the golden generation of Belgian football,” Martinez admitted when asked whether he is feeling the pressure ahead of the 2022 World Cup. Not since England in the mid-2000s has a national team been built up to such an extreme degree and it’s possible that this World Cup could be a similar experience to the one Fabio Capello’s team suffered in 2010 as the Three Lions reached the end of a cycle.

Canada have the potential to expose several of Belgium’s fundamental issues. John Herdman’s team finished top of CONMEBOL qualifying after perfecting a lightning-quick, quick-transition game that makes good use of players like Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Cyle Larin. That could be a problem for Belgium who like to play a high line with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, neither of whom possess much recovery speed.

Anything less than a Belgium win on Wednesday could set the tone for a disappointing World Cup campaign. The Red Devils have enjoyed one of the most successful periods in the history of their national team under Martinez, but the former Everton and Wigan boss will ultimately be judged on what titles he delivers. Belgium’s golden generation needs a golden moment in Qatar.