Football World Cup 2018 / Belgium

Football World Cup 2018 : Belgium
Trainer	Roberto Martínez
captain	Vincent Kompany
Qualified as	Winner Europe group H
World rankings before the tournament	3
Tournament result	place 3
Games won	6th
Games tie	0
Games lost	1
Gates	15: 6

This article covers the Belgian national football team at the 2018 World Cup . Belgium took part in the finals for the thirteenth time.

qualification

The team qualified for the World Cup in Russia through the qualifying matches of the European football association UEFA .

Games

Romelu Lukaku, Belgian top scorer in qualifying

Belgium met in Group H on Greece , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Estonia , Cyprus and Gibraltar , and Gibraltar was allocated only after its admission to FIFA the group. In the ten resulting games, the Belgian team won nine and played one draw. The Belgians only scored the equalizer in the 89th minute of the game. Belgium became the first European team to qualify early for the World Cup finals on the third to last matchday. The Belgians scored 43 goals and thus, together with defending champion Germany, the most goals, but conceded two more goals.

A total of 26 players were used, 17 of whom were already in the EM squad . Fourteen players appeared in at least five games, but only two - goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Jan Vertonghen , who replaced Jan Ceulemans as Belgium's record national player in the last qualifier - in all ten games. Axel Witsel missed the maximum number of ten games due to a red card in the fourth from last game and only made eight appearances.

The top scorer with eleven goals was Romelu Lukaku , who was the third top scorer in European qualifying. Captain Eden Hazard scored six goals and Dries Mertens and Thomas Meunier contributed five goals each . A total of 12 Belgian players met. The Belgians also benefited from five own goals by opposing players. Thorgan Hazard scored his first international goal in the last qualifying game in a 4-0 win against Cyprus. Before and after him, his brother Eden scored the goals for 1-0 and 3-0. With Jordan and Romelu Lukaku, two other brothers also came to a joint mission on October 7, 2016, but only Romelu was active as a goal scorer and Jordan only had this one mission.

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers for Belgium
09/06/2016	Nicosia	Cyprus	-	Belgium	0: 3 (0: 1)	Romelu Lukaku (13th, 61st) Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (81st)
07/10/2016	Brussels	Belgium	-	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4: 0 (2: 0)	Emir Spahić (26th / own goal), Eden Hazard (29th), Toby Alderweireld (60th), Romelu Lukaku (79th)
10/10/2016	Faro / Loulé ( PRT )	Gibraltar	-	Belgium	0: 6 (0: 3)	Christian Benteke (1. 1 , 43, 56.), Axel Witsel (19.), Dries Mertens (51.), Eden Hazard (79.)
11/13/2016	Brussels	Belgium	-	Estonia	8: 1 (3: 1)	Thomas Meunier (8th), Dries Mertens (16th, 67th), Eden Hazard (25th), Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (62nd), Ragnar Klavan (64th / own goal), Romelu Lukaku (83rd, 88th)
03/25/2017	Brussels	Belgium	-	Greece	1: 1 (0: 0)	Romelu Lukaku (89.)
06/09/2017	Tallinn	Estonia	-	Belgium	0: 2 (0: 1)	Dries Mertens (31st), Nacer Chadli (86th)
08/31/2017	Liege	Belgium	-	Gibraltar	9: 0 (6: 0)	Dries Mertens (16th), Thomas Meunier (18th, 60th, 67th), Romelu Lukaku (21st, 38th, 84th / penalty), Axel Witsel (27th), Eden Hazard (45th)
09/03/2017	Piraeus	Greece	-	Belgium	1: 2 (0: 0)	Jan Vertonghen (70th), Romelu Lukaku (74th)
07.10.2017	Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	-	Belgium	3: 4 (2: 1)	Thomas Meunier (4th), Michy Batshuayi (59th), Jan Vertonghen (68th), Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (83rd)
10/10/2017	Brussels	Belgium	-	Cyprus	4: 0 (1: 0)	Eden Hazard (12th, 63rd ../ penalty), Thorgan Hazard (52nd), Romelu Lukaku (78th)

¹ Christian Benteke scored the fastest goal in the history of World Cup qualification after seven seconds.

Final table of the qualifying round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Belgium	10	9	1	0	043: 600	+37	28
2.	Greece	10	5	4th	1	017: 600	+11	19th
3.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	5	2	3	024:130	+11	17th
4th	Estonia	10	3	2	5	013:190	−6	11
5.	Cyprus	10	3	1	6th	009:180	−9	10
6th	Gibraltar	10	0	0	10	003:470	−44	00

Note: The second-placed Greek team failed in the playoff games of the group runners-up to Croatia.

preparation

Games

date	Result	opponent	venue	Belgian goal scorers
November 10, 2017	3: 3	Mexico	Brussels	Eden Hazard (17th), Romelu Lukaku (55th, 70th)
November 14, 2017	1-0	Japan	Bruges	Romelu Lukaku (72nd)
March 27, 2018	4-0	Saudi Arabia	Brussels	Romelu Lukaku (13th, 39th) Michy Batshuayi (77th), Kevin De Bruyne (78th)
2nd June 2018	0-0	Portugal	Brussels
June 6, 2018	3-0	Egypt	Brussels	Romelu Lukaku (27th), Eden Hazard (38th), Marouane Fellaini (90th + 2)
June 11, 2018	4: 1	Costa Rica	Brussels	Dries Mertens (31st), Romelu Lukaku (42nd, 50th), Michy Batshuayi (64th)

Quarter

Team Quarter was the "Country Club" in Moscow , where the team in the sports complex Guchkowo Dedovsk could use for training.

Squad

The preliminary roster for the World Cup was named on May 21. The 28-man squad had to be reduced to 23 players by June 4th. Were canceled Mats Sels (gate), Christian Benteke , Laurent Ciman , Christian Kabasele and Jordan Lukaku .

Item	No.	Surname	society	birth date	Country games	Country backlash gates	debut	Last use						World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2018)	World Cup goals (before 2018)
goal	13	Koen Casteels	VfL Wolfsburg	06/25/1992	000	00
	01	Thibaut Courtois	Chelsea FC P	05/11/1992	058	00	2011	06/11/2018	7th					2014	5	0
	12	Simon Mignolet	Liverpool FC	08/06/1988	021st	00	2011	03/27/2018						2014	0	0
Defense	02	Toby Alderweireld	Tottenham Hotspur	03/02/1989	077	03	2009	06/11/2018	6th		1/1			2014	4th	0
	20th	Dedryck Boyata	Celtic Glasgow D	11/28/1990	007th	00	2010	06/11/2018	3
	04th	Vincent Kompany	Manchester City M	04/10/1986	077	04th	2004	02.06.2018	5					2014	4th	0
	15th	Thomas Meunier	Paris Saint-Germain D.	09/12/1991	025th	05	2013	06/11/2018	5	1	2
	03	Thomas Vermaelen	FC Barcelona D.	11/14/1985	066	01	2006	03/27/2018	3					2014	1	0
	05	Jan Vertonghen *	Tottenham Hotspur	04/24/1987	102	08th	2007	06/11/2018	6th	1	1/1			2014	5	1
midfield	22nd	Nacer Chadli	West Bromwich Albion ↓	08/02/1989	045	05	2011	06/11/2018	6th	1				2014	4th	0
	07th	Kevin De Bruyne	Manchester City M	06/28/1991	062	14th	2010	06/11/2018	6th	1	1			2014	4th	1
	19th	Mousa Dembélé	Tottenham Hotspur	07/16/1987	076	05	2006	06/11/2018	4th					2014	2	0
	23	Leander Dendoncker	RSC Anderlecht	04/15/1995	005	00	2015	06/11/2018	1		1
	08th	Marouane Fellaini	Manchester United	11/22/1987	082	17th	2007	06/06/2018	5	1				2014	5	1
	17th	Youri Tielemans	AS Monaco	05/07/1997	010	00	2016	06/11/2018	4th		1
	06th	Axel Witsel	Tianjin Quanjian	01/12/1989	090	09	2008	06/11/2018	6th		1			2014	4th	0
Storm	21st	Michy Batshuayi	Borussia Dortmund	10/02/1993	016	07th	2015	06/11/2018	3	1
	11	Yannick Carrasco	Dalian Yifang ↑	09/04/1993	026th	05	2015	06/11/2018	4th
	10	Eden Hazard	Chelsea FC P	01/07/1991	086	22nd	2008	06/11/2018	6th	3	1			2014	5	0
	16	Thorgan Hazard	Borussia Monchengladbach	03/29/1993	011	01	2013	06/11/2018	2
	18th	Adnan Januzaj	Real Sociedad	02/05/1995	008th	00	2014	06/06/2018	1	1				2014	1	0
	09	Romelu Lukaku **	Manchester United	05/13/1993	069	36	2010	06/11/2018	6th	4th				2014	4th	1
	14th	Dries Mertens	SSC Naples	05/06/1987	069	14th	2011	06/11/2018	6th	1				2014	5	1
Coaching staff		Roberto Martínez	Trainer	07/13/1973			2016		6th
		Graeme Jones	Assistant coach	March 13, 1970
		Thierry Henry	Assistant coach	08/17/1977	123	51	2016							1998, 2002, 2006, 2010	17th	6th
		Iñaki Bergara	Goalkeeping coach	01/26/1962
		Erwin Lemmens	Goalkeeping coach	05/12/1976	02	0
		Richard Evans	Fitness trainer
Status of appearances and goals: June 11, 2018, after the game against Costa Rica
↑ Numbers according to the official squad list ↑ * = The player is a Belgian national record player, ** = The player is a Belgian record goal scorer ↑ D = The club was champion and cup winner of its country in the World Cup year, M = The club was champion of its country in the World Cup year, P = The club was cup winner in the World Cup year, ↓ = The club rose from the top division of Country, ↑ = Club plays in the top league in the World Cup year. ↑ As of June 11, 2018, after the game against Costa Rica ↑ belgianfootball.be: Staf Rode Duivels ↑ a b c d e As a player for France ↑ a b As a player

Finals

Group draw

Kaliningrad (VR) Moscow (VR) Sochi (VR) Rostov-on-Don (AF) Kazan (VF) Saint Petersburg (HF / S3) Postabino-1

Playgrounds and quarters (blue / italic) of the Belgians

For the draw of the qualifying groups on December 1st, the Belgians were assigned to Pot 1 and could therefore not be drawn into a group with defending champions Germany, record world champions Brazil, vice world champions Argentina or host Russia. They are in the preliminary round Group G on England , Tunisia and Panama meet. There have been 24 games against England so far with three wins (two against the English amateurs), five draws and 16 defeats (one against the English amateurs). At world championships, both have played against each other twice: in 1954 they separated 4: 4 afterwards in the preliminary round, in 1990 they also went into extra time in the round of 16, in which Belgium lost 1: 0. Against Tunisia, the balance is even with one win, one draw (in the preliminary round of the 2002 World Cup) and one defeat. Like the other two opponents, Belgium have never played against Panama. As group winner or runner-up, Belgium would face the runner-up or winner of group H with Poland.

Group stage / group G matches

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Group G

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Belgium	3	3	0	0	009: 200	+7	09
2.	England	3	2	0	1	008: 300	+5	06th
3.	Tunisia	3	1	0	2	005: 800	−3	03
4th	Panama	3	0	0	3	002:110	−9	00

Mon, June 18, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Sochi
Belgium	-	Panama	3: 0 (0: 0)	47 ′ Mertens , 69, 75 ′ Lukaku
Sat., June 23, 2018, 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. CEST) in Moscow (Spartak Stadium)
Belgium	-	Tunisia	5: 2 (3: 1)	6 / Penalty, 51 ′ E. Hazard , 16, 45 + 3 ′ Lukaku, 90 ′ Batshuayi
Thursday, June 28, 2018, 8:00 p.m. (CEST) in Kaliningrad
England	-	Belgium	0: 1 (0: 0)	51 ′ Januzaj

Games of the knockout round

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / final round

Mon., July 2, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Rostov-on-Don ( Rostov-Arena )
Belgium	-	Japan	3: 2 (0: 0)	69 ′ Vertonghen , 74 ′ Fellaini , 90 + 4 ′ Chadli
Fri., July 6, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Kazan ( Kazan Arena )
Brazil	-	Belgium	1: 2 (0: 2)	13 ′ Fernandinho , 31 ′ De Bruyne
Tue., July 10, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Saint Petersburg ( Saint Petersburg Stadium )
France	-	Belgium	1: 0 (0: 0)
Sat, July 14, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Saint Petersburg ( Saint Petersburg Stadium )
Belgium	-	England	2: 0 (1: 0)	4 ′ Meunier , 13 ′ E. Hazard

The Belgians met Japan in their first game at their home World Cup in 2002 and scored 2-2. There was also one win, one draw and two defeats in friendly matches. The Belgians won 5-1 against Brazil in their first meeting in 1963, with the Brazilians playing eight 1962 world champions. After that there were three defeats, the last in the 2002 World Cup round of 16. Against France, the Belgians' second most popular opponent after the Netherlands (126 games) with 73 games, the record is positive with 30 wins, 19 draws and 24 defeats, which is also the case third defeat in a World Cup game doesn't change anything. They had previously lost to the French in the round of 16 in 1938 and in the game for third place in 1986.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ World Cup qualification Belgian Benteke scores fastest goal in history. In: berliner-zeitung.de. Berliner Zeitung , October 10, 2016, accessed on October 11, 2016 . 
2. ↑ fifa.com: 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Team Base Camps
3. ↑ belgianfootball.be: WK-preselectie met 28 Rode Duivels