Football World Cup 2014 / Belgium
This article covers the Belgian national football team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Belgium took part in the finals for the twelfth time and in a finals in South America for the second time. At the first World Cup finals in South America in 1930, Belgium was one of the four European participants who accepted the invitation. After that, Belgium could no longer qualify for a World Cup in South America. It was the first World Cup participation since 2002 . With a size of 30,528 km², Belgium was the smallest participant in the finals.
qualification
Belgium played in European qualifying Group A . Opponents were Croatia , Serbia , Scotland , Macedonia and Wales . Belgium prevailed in their group with eight wins and two draws (against Croatia and Wales) and conceded only four goals. Qualification was already certain after the penultimate game.
Table and results
Pl. | team | Sp. | S. | U | N | Gates | Diff. | Points |
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1. |
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10 | 8th | 2 | 0 | 18: 4 | +14 | 26th |
2. |
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10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 12: 9 | +3 | 17th |
3. |
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10 | 4th | 2 | 4th | 18:11 | +7 | 14th |
4th |
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10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8:12 | −4 | 11 |
5. |
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10 | 3 | 1 | 6th | 9:20 | −11 | 10 |
6th |
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10 | 2 | 1 | 7th | 7:16 | −9 | 7th |
Game results
date | place | Home team | - | guest | Result | Goal scorers for Belgium |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
07.09.2012 | Cardiff City Stadium ( Cardiff , Wales ) | Wales | - | Belgium | 0: 2 (0: 1) | Kompany (42nd), Vertonghen (83rd) |
09/11/2012 | King Baudouin Stadium ( Brussels , Belgium) | Belgium | - | Croatia | 1: 1 (1: 1) | Gillet (45.) |
October 12, 2012 | Rajko Mitić Stadium ( Belgrade , Serbia ) | Serbia | - | Belgium | 0: 3 (0: 1) | Benteke (34.), De Bruyne (68.), Mirallas (90.) |
10/16/2012 | King Baudouin Stadium (Brussels, Belgium) | Belgium | - | Scotland | 2: 0 (0: 0) | Benteke (68th), Kompany (71.) |
03/22/2013 | Filip II Arena ( Skopje , Macedonia) | Macedonia | - | Belgium | 0: 2 (0: 1) | De Bruyne (26th), Hazard (63rd, penalty) |
03/26/2013 | King Baudouin Stadium (Brussels, Belgium) | Belgium | - | Macedonia | 1: 0 (0: 0) | Hazard (63.) |
06/07/2013 | King Baudouin Stadium (Brussels, Belgium) | Belgium | - | Serbia | 2: 1 (1: 0) | De Bruyne (13th), Fellaini (60th) |
06.09.2013 | Hampden Park ( Glasgow ) | Scotland | - | Belgium | 0: 2 (0: 1) | Steven Defour (38th), Mirallas (89th) |
10/11/2013 | Maksimir Stadium ( Zagreb , Croatia ) | Croatia | - | Belgium | 1: 2 (0: 2) | Lukaku (15th, 38th) |
October 15, 2013 | King Baudouin Stadium (Brussels, Belgium) | Belgium | - | Wales | 1: 1 (0: 0) | De Bruyne (64th) |
Marc Wilmots , who first became interim coach in May 2012 and head coach after two games, only used 23 players and like Germany the fewest players of all qualified teams. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois , Kevin De Bruyne , Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembélé were used in all ten games. Belgium scored at least one goal in every game with De Bruyne scoring most (4). Nine other players contributed the rest. With Zakaria Bakkali and Ilombe Mboyo , two players made their first A internationals in the qualifying matches.
preparation
Test matches:
- Brussels against Ivory Coast for the first time (2-2, goalscorers for Belgium: Fellaini / 18th and Nainggolan / 51st) March 5, 2014 in
- May 26, 2014 in Brussels against Luxembourg (5: 1, goalscorers for Belgium: Lukaku / 3rd, 23rd, 54th; Chadli / 71st and De Bruyne / 90th (penalty))
- Solna against Sweden (2-0, goalscorers: Lukaku / 34th and Hazard / 78th) June 1, 2014 in
- Brussels against Tunisia (1-0, goalscorer: Mertens / 89.) June 7, 2014 in
Squad
A preliminary list of 30 players had to be submitted to FIFA by May 13, 2014. The final list of 23 players had to be received by FIFA by June 2, 2014 at the latest.
The preliminary roster for the World Cup was named on May 13th. Since Belgium had not taken part in a World Cup finals for 12 years, of the squad members, most of whom were still juniors in 2002, only Daniel Van Buyten had previously played World Cup games, in which he played together with current coach Marc Wilmots .
No. | Surname | society | Date of birth | International matches |
Länderspiel- gates |
Games | Gates |
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World Cup participation | World Cup games (before 2014) |
World Cup goals (before 2014) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
goal | |||||||||||||
13 | Sammy Bossut | SV Zulte-Waregem | August 11, 1985 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
1 | Thibaut Courtois |
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May 11, 1992 | 17th | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
12 | Simon Mignolet |
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August 6, 1988 | 14th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Defense | |||||||||||||
2 | Toby Alderweireld |
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March 2, 1989 | 35 | 1 | 4th | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
23 | Laurent Ciman | Standard Liege | 5th August 1985 | 8th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
4th |
Vincent Kompany ![]() |
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April 10, 1986 | 60 | 4th | 4th | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
18th | Nicolas Lombaerts |
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March 20, 1985 | 25th | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
15th | Daniel Van Buyten |
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February 7, 1978 | 80 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2002 | 4th | 0 |
21st | Anthony Vanden Borre | RSC Anderlecht M | October 24, 1987 | 26th | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
3 | Thomas Vermaelen |
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November 14, 1985 | 47 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
5 | Jan Vertonghen |
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April 24, 1987 | 57 | 4th | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
midfield | |||||||||||||
22nd | Nacer Chadli |
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2nd August 1989 | 21st | 2 | 4th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
7th | Kevin De Bruyne |
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June 28, 1991 | 21st | 4th | 4th | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
16 | Steven Defour |
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April 15, 1988 | 44 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
19th | Mousa Dembélé |
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July 16, 1987 | 57 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
8th | Marouane Fellaini |
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November 22, 1987 | 51 | 8th | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
6th | Axel Witsel |
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January 12, 1989 | 49 | 5 | 4th | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
attack | |||||||||||||
20th | Adnan Januzaj |
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5th February 1995 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
9 | Romelu Lukaku |
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May 13, 1993 | 30th | 6th | 4th | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
11 | Kevin Mirallas |
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5th October 1987 | 45 | 9 | 4th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
17th | Divock orig |
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April 18, 1995 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
10 | Eden Hazard |
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January 7, 1991 | 46 | 6th | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
14th | Dries Mertens |
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May 6, 1987 | 25th | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Coaching staff | |||||||||||||
Marc Wilmots | Trainer | 22nd February 1969 | 70 | 29 | 4th | 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 | 8th | 5 | |||||
Vital Borkelmans | Assistant coach | June 1, 1963 | 22nd | 3 | 1994, 1998 | 5 | 0 | ||||||
Erwin Lemmens | Goalkeeping coach | May 12, 1976 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||
Mario Innaurato | Fitness trainer | ||||||||||||
(*) only the games and goals that were played or scored before the start of the World Cup are given | |||||||||||||
Finals
Group stage
Preliminary round venues (red), round of 16 venue (green), quarter-final venue (yellow) and quarters (blue) |
In the draw for the final round on December 6, 2013, Belgium, which was seeded as the group head for the third time since 1990 and 1994, was drawn into Group H with Algeria, Russia and South Korea. Before the start of the tournament, the Belgian national football team had not lost to any of these opponents. In 2002 in the preliminary round of the World Cup against Russia in the last decisive group match, a 3-2 win, which Belgium reached the round of 16. The other two games ended 2-0 and 0-0. However , there had been four defeats against the Soviet Union . There was also a 0-0 and 3-1 win against Algeria. The results against South Korea are also positive: 2 wins and one draw. Except in Rio de Janeiro (0-5 against Brazil in June 1965) Belgium had not yet played in any of the venues.
The team quarters and training location was the Paradise Golf & Lake Resort in Mogi das Cruzes .
Pl. | country | Sp. | S. | U | N | Gates | Diff. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
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3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4: 1 | +3 | 9 |
2. |
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3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6: 5 | +1 | 4th |
3. |
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3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2: 3 | −1 | 2 |
4th |
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3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3: 6 | −3 | 1 |
Tue., June 17, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Belo Horizonte | |||
Belgium | - | Algeria | 2: 1 (0: 1) |
Sun., June 22, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Rio de Janeiro | |||
Belgium | - | Russia | 1: 0 (0: 0) |
Thursday, June 26, 2014, 5:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. CEST) in São Paulo | |||
South Korea | - | Belgium | 0: 1 (0: 0) |
Knockout round
Round of 16
Tuesday, July 1, 2014, 5:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Salvador | |||
Belgium | - |
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2: 1 n.V. (0: 0, 0: 0) |
There had previously been five games against the USA, only one of which was lost, the first in the preliminary round at the first World Cup in 1930. After that all games were won against the USA. With the victory, Belgium reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 1986.
Quarter finals
Sat., July 5, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Brasília | |||
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- | Belgium | 1: 0 (1: 0) |
Although both met for the first time at the Olympic Games in 1928, there were only four games against Argentina with one win and three defeats. The opening game of the 1982 World Cup was won when Argentina was the defending champion. The last game between the two teams until then was the 1986 World Cup semi-finals, in which Diego Maradona scored two goals for the eventual world champion's 2-0 victory.
Sports impact
In the FIFA world rankings , Belgium climbed six places from 11th to 5th place, making it the third-best European team in the rankings behind their neighbors Germany and the Netherlands.
Resignations
- On August 14th, Daniel Van Buyten announced the end of his career.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Regulations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup ™, para. 29 List of players, rest time, preparatory phase
- ↑ fifa.com: "Belgium's" Red Devils "with three Bundesliga professionals" ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Release List of Players from May 16, 2014
- ↑ fifa.com: team quarters
- ↑ fifa.com: "Long-time Bayern professional van Buyten ends his career"