What Went Wrong For Belgium's Golden Generation?

Belgium's golden generation has been and gone of the team that finished third at the 2018 World Cup only four players made the Belgium Squad over the current International break from failing to qualify for five consecutive tournaments between 2004 and 2012 all of a sudden at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil everyone realized that Belgium had quite a good team Belgium had the youngest Squad at the tournament among the European nations but all over the past there seemed to be genuine Talent there was a 22-year-old Teo ctoa who was starring for Atletico Madrid on loan from

Chelsea a 25-year-old seimon M who was at that time Liverpool's number one Belgium's backline could boast the likes of Toby alivar Yan vong and Vincent company and Thomas ver Maron then of Atletico Madrid Tottenham Man City and Arsenal who were all aged between 25 and 28 in Midfield Belgium's biggest talents Kevin De bruyne and Eden ha were only 22 and 23 Wonder kid ad Nan yanai was 19 and axel vitell St de four NASA Chadley marowan Fellaini Kevin Morales Dre Mertens and Musa de B were all aged between 24 and 27 meanwhile up front romalo

Lukaku though only 21 years old had already spent two seasons as one of the leading Marksman in the Premier League on loan at West Brom and Everton with 19-year-old Leo sensation dvo krii provid dividing him with intense competition this was a serious team backed by so many people as their supposed dark horses that they ended up being installed as the fifth favorites pre- tournament ahead of powerhouses like France Italy and the Netherlands which is remarkable really when you think that Belgium hadn't even qualified for a tournament since 2002 whereas Italy had reached the final of

the last euros and the Netherlands the final of the last World Cup Belgium TOS their group as one of only three teams at the tournament win all three group games before beating the United States in the round of 16 and only falling against eventual finalist Argentina by one go to nil in the quarterfinals Belgium's status as a force within International Football and this team's status as a golden generation had been born with most of their star players still in their early 20s and with their best years ahead of them and soon to be strengthened by

the likes of Yori tman yanic Carrasco and Thomas mun in the 10 years since then no team has spent more time at the top of the FIFA world rankings than Belgium 1,442 days or almost four years in total yet Belgium's golden generation won nothing never reached a final and are now widely derided as failures but why did they win nothing why did they only reach one semi-final and is the perception of them as having been almost historically underwhelming Underachievers really deserved well that's what this video is all about so sit back relax and join me

on a journey to Belgium as we explore what is widely viewed as having been a miserable 10 years of failure for the Red Devils no no not those Red Devils I mean sure them too but the other ones that's the one what stop them from becoming an all-conquering force on the international stage and how history will judge them it's easy to reel off the names of De bruyne Hazard Lukaku company cir and M the last of whom many Prof profal will tell you absolutely deserves to be named alongside the other five and to paint Belgium

as being a super team who should undoubtedly have won something at some stage surely and they were at their best an outstanding team but that doesn't quite tell the whole story Belgium's inability to win a major trophy over the last 10 years is often betrayed as a failure but I would ask people to pinpoint which tournament they actually felt Belgium had the best team Max and were therefore the favorites to win the peak for Belgium's golden generation undeniably was the 2018 World Cup in Russia but even there the France team that knocked them out in

the semi-finals and went on to win the World Cup could boast the likes of Pogba kante Griezmann jiru and mbappe all in fine form Brazil Who Belgium knocked out in the quarterfinals had Allison Thiago Silva Marcelo casemiro coutinho fernandinho and Neymar and even Argentina who went out in the round of 16 could name masaran D Maria Messi Aguero and dybala among their ranks I could easily go on it's a lot like England's so-call golden generation over the decade before Belgium people love to list off the likes of Terry Ferdinand Campbell Cole Neville Beckham Lampard skulls

Gerard Rooney and Owen all great players no doubt about it but they're a lot slower to point out that at almost the exact same time indeed at least overlapping at some stage France had toram Desa Mele Vieira PIR zidan trees and onri Italy had Buffon canavaro Nesta zamb BR cuso pilo Del Pierro viar and Totti the Netherlands had vasar Stam deor koku David Schneider sorf overmars Robin klyber and Van nroy and Portugal had kouto Caro Figo Costa Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo and that's before we even get into the Brazilians and the argentines and understandably for

frustrated Kevin De bruyne following Belgium's Euro 2024 exit against France articulated this point after a journalist as whether it hurt that Belgium's golden generation never reached a final de bruyne responded by asking who decided that Belgium's team is a golden generation and if so did France England Spain and Germany not also have golden Generations but what is a golden generation yours and you say that France and England and Spain and Germany is not a goldan generation okay thank you thank you Belgium in other words have had a good team over the last 10 years but

they've always been just one of several good teams never some kind of unparalleled super team in a world of their own like Brazil at the 1970 World Cup where failure would have been some kind of aberration at the 2014 World Cup Belgium were young and inexperienced every single player was appearing in their first International Tournament Belgium's Mega Stars hazah de bruyne ctoa and Lukaku were all aged 23 and below and were yet to hit their peaks and there was an evident lack of depth in a couple of key positions principally as would become an enduring

problem for Belgium was their D lack of options at fullback and when I say D I really do mean absolutely diabolical in fact the only player in the entire Belgium Squad who could even be described as a fullback was 26-year-old Dr Congo born Anthony venor then a vandel who had won 25 caps for the national team most of them coming at right back and even he was no stranger to playing on the rights of Midfield in club football and then well that was it what's more despite his early promise venor had struggled following a move

to siia hence his return to Belgium he hadn't played 90 minutes for the national team since 2011 and indeed he hadn't played any minutes for belg since 2011 until 2014 venor was considered one of the weakest members of the Belgium Squad by 2014 then likely only included due to Mark vot's lack of options at fullback and he didn't get any game time until Belgium's thirdd group game against South Korea by which stage they'd already qualified for the Knockouts in that game venor broke his ankle ruling him out for the next four months he only ever

won two more caps for the national team as a result vilmont SHO hor two of his center backs of which he had several into the fullback positions it was Toby alavar at right back and Yan vong at left back who drew the short straws with Vincent company and the vastly experienced Daniel vanon Who weigh farewell to football at that tournament h35 who were allowed to play in their preferred positions Alder viral and vangen who later became teammates at Center back at Tottenham were both very good players but Al deel was coming off the back of

a tough debut campaign with atletic Madrid and never looked comfortable at all at right back and vangen who looks slightly more assured at left back than Al dearl did at right back though still clearly playing out of position came into that World Cup off the back of a string of ankle injuries that had limited his game time at Tottenham it was a major flaw which the lakes of Algeria the United States and Argentina all exploited it was Argentina who ultimately sent Belgium packing beating them 1- nil in the quarterfinals courtesy of an early goal by

Gonzalo Higuain and when you compare not just the fact that Argentina star men like Messi mashiro Andy Maria were all at the peak of their powers and playing some of the finest football of their careers unlike Belgium's Young Guns and less experienced St man in Hazard de bruyne and Lukaku but most notably the squad depth of both teams I don't think that you can call Belgium's one- nil defeat a major failure on their part whereas a 19-year-old D oigi started up front for Belgium with 21-year-old romu Lukaku replacing him after 59 minutes two players who

had scored six and 16 goals the previous season Argentina started Messi and higu up front who had scored 41 and 24 goals the previous term with Rodrigo palasio who had scored 19 for Inter Milan Sergio Aguero who had scored 28 for Manchester City and even ezel leety who had scored 12 for PSG all waiting in the wings Squad depth like fullbacks is something that Belgium's golden generation never really had even at their peak of the 2018 World Cup once you got to the 19th or 20th members of Belgium Squad I wouldn't say that you were

scraping the barrel exactly but it didn't quite match up to the quality of the top national team squads France who knocked Belgium out in the semi-finals before winning the World Cup in Russia provide the best example the likes of Adrien rabio Anthony martial Alexander lacazette And even Demitri p yet didn't make Didier de's squad for the World Cup let alone just miss out on their starting 11 France's bench against Belgium boasted the likes of cortin Aliso who joined by Munich in 2017 for 47.5 million e 70 million euro Atletico Madrid signing that summer Thomas Lamar

and Usman demele who joined Barcelona a year earlier for a potential 145 million the bench in terms of the two starting there was little to split France and Belgium as indeed was the case over the course of the game as a whole but when it came to changing the game Dida desm had far stronger options than Roberto Martinez as tended to be the case whenever Belgium's gone generation came up against a fellow top national team the fact that Belgium's deficiencies were rarely noticed is I think a result of the different ways that we think about

different national teams we expect Brazil Germany even England to always have strong squads so whenever they have glaring weaknesses they are emphasized and put under the spotlight we don't expect or certainly didn't expect prior to 2014 Belgium to have such a strong Squad so their strengths namely their star players were what was overemphasized and put under the spotlight whereas their weaknesses were glossed over or entirely overlooked likewise once the concept of Belgium's golden generation had been established in 2014 every promising Belgium player became further evidence of their Incredible strength in depth it didn't matter that

most of them never fulfilled that promise or those expectations The Narrative had been set when the likes of Christian bente dvo origi mitchi batw Adnan yanai thoran Hazard Yari veran or even Yori tman burst onto the scene I I burst onto the scene didn't I it was portrayed as being a case of bloody hell here comes another one with much less atten given to the fact that as a collective few of them ever actually made a tangible or consistent contribution to the Belgian national team in other words their emergence gave the illusion that Belgium had

a greater talent pool in depth without the reality ever really matching up with it after Belgium went out in the quarterfinals of Euro 2016 losing 3-1 against Wales former Belgium star man and conservative politician Mark vilmont was sacked he was replaced by Roberto Martinez who was out of work following 3 years at Everton Martinez was viewed as a left field appointment especially given the World Cup winner Marcelo Lippy and the vastly experienced Louis bangal who had outperformed expectations with the Netherlands at the last World Cup were reported to have expressed an interest in the job

Belgium became a much more possession-based team under Martinez utilizing their quality in midfi to dominate games as well as packing Central areas to combat Belgium's lack of fullbacks Martinez imp implemented a 343 formation allowing Alder viral and vangen by this stage teammates at Tottenham and playing the best football of their careers to play at Center back in their natural roles either side of Manchester City Captain Vincent company forming an outstanding back three rather than a mishmash and disorganized back four although Belgium still didn't have any compelling options at fullback the likes of NASA Chadley Thomas

munier yanic grasco and later the likes of thoran Hazard and timoy sta all flourished at times in Martinez's system as Wing backs and with them offering the width the likes of Eden Hazard Kevin de bruyne dre smens or whoever else happened to be playing in a front three alongside romu Lukaku tended to be given the freedom to Rome making Belgium difficult and unpredictable to defend against it is for that reason the control they were able to exert over teams and the fluidity and freedom afforded to their star power in attacking areas that made Belgium so

ruthless against all but the very best national teams and sometimes even them propelling them to the top of the FIFA world rankings under Martinez the FIFA world rankings are often mocked and maligned in large part because Belgium topped them for so long but much as it is true that they are flawed especially when it comes to comparing teams from different confederations it's not as though they don't measure anything at all what's more Belgium play in the most competitive Confederation UEFA and maintained the remarkably consistent results required to top the rankings briefly in 2015 and 2016

and then basically uninterrupted from late 2018 through to early 2022 between September 2016 and June 2021 a period of almost 5 years Belgium played 58 matches and only lost three of them you can underplay that as much as you like talk about trophies clutch moments and when it matters most but there's no way of spinning it as being anything other than an amazing record and an illustration of just how ruthless and consistent Belgium were before their defeat against France at the 2018 World Cup Belgium hadn't lost in almost 2 years with their last defeat coming

against Spain immediately after their euro26 defeat against Wales whatever the methodology there wouldn't be many ranking systems that wouldn't have had Belgium as one of if not the best national team in the world throughout this time what hurt Belgium when it mattered most outside of a lack of depth and a couple of glaring weaknesses was a series of unfortunate injuries it's often overlooked but Belgium's genuine Superstars Eden Hazard Kevin De bruyne Vincent company and even to a certain extent romelu Lukaku and tbal corta are all players who have spent extended periods of time on the

sidelines through injuries meaning that they were rarely actually all on the pitch for Belgium when it mattered most at the same time the fact that those five in particular are all such similar ages less than seven years separates company and Lukaku with The Gap reduced just two years between them all if you take company out of the equation was great in terms of Belgium Stars peaking simultaneously but not so great in terms of spreading out the window of opportunity in which Belgium had a genuine shot at winning anything arguably the only tournaments in which that

was a realistic Prospect were the 2018 World Cup Euro 2020 and at a stretch Euro 2016 and even then there's only really the 2018 World Cup in Russia where I would have put Belgium among the three favorites although they were touted as potential winners either side of that window Belgium's own players seemed to be well aware of their limitations after Belgium beat Canada very unconvincingly in their opening game of the 2022 World Cup when Kevin De bruyne was asked whether Belgium could win the World Cup he replied no way with too old adding I think

our chance was 2018 we have a good team but it's aging we lost some key players we have some good new players coming but they're not at the level other players were in 2018 I see us more as Outsiders and quote I mean he wasn't exactly wrong I and many others said the same thing at the time but I wasn't playing for Belgium at the World Cup where you're probably not meant to say that it didn't seem as though de bruyne was trying to El leviate pressure on the Belgian players with his response calling them

Outsiders and the golden generation tag that has weighed so heavily over the last decade it just seemed as though he was genuinely saying they weren't as good anymore and definitely definitely definitely wouldn't win it which again was true but you know for the same reason the postponement of Euro 2020 due to the co9 pandemic probably hurt Belgium more than any other national team their aging s were all one year older than they would otherwise have been obviously which was particularly problematic for their geriatric backline Ed and Hazard was a year deeper into his Real Madrid

malays and both he and de bruyne were carrying injuries as the tournament went on whereas for some countries like England the extra 12 months gave their talented young players extra time to develop Belgium Stars would need new hips arthritis medication and chairlifts to be installed in their Mansions during that time I am exaggerating for all comic effects which is why you're probably laughing hysterically right now but you get the idea it also didn't help matters that some of Belgium's star players Yanik Carrasco Axel vitell marowan Fellaini and Musa all packed up for China as soon

as the Chinese Super League began splashing the cash some of them when they weren't even that old and due to a lack of depth Belgium could scarcely afford to drop them just because they were no longer competing at an elite level Belgium's gold generation was also bladed by tensions bust ups and unfortunate Team Dynamics Belgium is a nation divided quite literally into three highly autonomous regions namely Flanders wona and the Brussels Capital Region the modern state of Belgium was founded in 1830 but it was founded in a state of deep distrust when the territory was

ruled by the French during the 18th and the early part of the 19th century they attempted to turn this ethnically culturally and linguistically diverse region into a frankophone state French was declared the only official national language with the courts Army government and all educational institutions mandated to become exclusively french-speaking zones this was largely successful in the Southeast where Woon almost became a dead language and even Woon nationalists and advocacy groups were basically controlled and uh in some ways infiltrated by french-speaking Elites but it was resisted much more heavily in the Dutch speaking region of Flanders

when the modern Belgian state was born therefore a Flemish movement which felt looked down upon by the french-speaking upper classes and bis was founded to defend Flemish identity from aasia and infringment at first the movement solely focused on language and in 1898 Dutch was made a co-official language of Belgium alongside French but French remained the prevailing language in almost all Belgian institutions this became a particular inflection point during World War I and World War II when all orders by officers were given in French even those being delivered to Dutch speaking Flemish units that didn't speak

a word of French during this time the Flemish movement became much more radical advocating at one stage for the breakup of Belgium and Flemish unification with the Netherlands the fact that the two major political parties associated with the Flemish movements contained significant fascist Tendencies and collaborated with the Nazis during World War II saw those more radical proposals fall out of favor during the postwar era but the increased prosperity of Flanders which has almost twice the population of wnia led to the movement being afforded greater concessions in the second half of the 20th century through fear

among Belgium's French speakers that without them Flanders would become the dominant political and cultural force in Belgium and eventually make the country entirely Dutch speaking in the 1960s 7s and 80s as associations with fascism diminished the Flanders movement became emboldened once again and Belgium became one of the most federalized States in Europe if not in the entire world Belgium was officially divided into four language areas Dutch French German and the officially bilingual Dutch French Capital Zone around Brussels during the 1960s and in the 70s these language areas were recognized as distinct cultural communities now known

simply as communities namely the Dutch French and germane speaking communities with immense Devol Powers the federal Belgian government therefore is among the weakest in Europe with both the Flemish and Woon communities fearful that empowering the central government will pose a threat to their own autonomy Belgium's communities as a result are allowed to set their own independent agriculture health education foreign trade and even fiscal policies Belgian politics is intensely sectarian the only party represented in Parliament which is a fully National Party and doesn't seek to represent only Flanders or wnia is the Marxist Workers Party of

Belgium combined that with an electoral system of proportional representation and the result is political stalemates and Deadlocks unlike anywhere else in Europe following the 2010 Belgian federal election which came during the midst of the 2007 to 2011 Belgian political crisis a time of hate intentions even by Belgium standards no one on either side was willing to do a deal on former government as a result Belgium set a record for the longest period of country has gone without a government 589 days which didn't do a great deal to combat any of those divisions in 2011 for

the first time during the postwar era the were serious talks about fanders declaring independence wona unifying with France and Belgium therefore ceasing to exist other suggestions included Flanders unifying with the Netherlands or both Flanders and wnia becoming independents as Dutch and french- speaking countries but the former gained the most momentum ultimately none ever came to pass not that partition doesn't still have many passionate Advocates particularly in Flanders but the political cultural and linguistic divides in Belgium which just so happened to come to a sharp head right at the moment that the golden generation formed at

the beginning of the 2010s and has persisted ever since unsurprisingly bled through into the national team in some ways this has always been the case Belgium as I say is a nation divided therefore the national team has often been divided down those same lines England's golden generation was famously divided into cleaks based upon club allegiances which many players have cited as something which held them back but at least they all spoke the same language Mark vilms a French speaker from wona endeared himself to Belgium's Flemish Community by speaking both French and Dutch and attempting to

make the national team bilingual but Roberto Martinez who isn't fluent in either French or Dutch had a more novel approach to make English the official language of the Belgian national team strange as that may sound the strategy was widely lorded as being successful in terms of reducing tensions at a time in which they threatened to boil over in the nation at large it's not just macro tensions which blad Belgium's gold generation though but also micro and interpersonal ones when they were still in their early 20s Kevin de bruyne's girlfriend left him for teammate tbal CTO

creating an inevitable tension between the two in his 2014 autobiography released shortly after the World Cup de bruyne wrote quote although I still cannot believe what cir has done we continue to work together professionally end quote Roberto Martinez had a bust up and eventually exiled rajine Goan from the national team squad who was previously one of the brightest lights of Belgium's golden generation owing to his unhealthy lifestyle and refusal to stop smoking Yan vong and Eden Hazard and Kevin De bruyer all clashed heads of the 2022 World Cup and reportedly had to be broken up

by romu Lukaku supposedly owing to anger on the part of atangan about de bruyne's pessimistic comments regarding Belgium's prospects at the tournament and tbal CWA was reportedly upset after romelu Lukaku was appointed as the national team's Captain ahead of him it doesn't stop there Eden Hazard Belgium star man for a number of years was viewed as a strange choice of captaincy by Roberto Martinez in 2017 given his reputation as a poor trainer with a low work ethic and few notable leadership qualities especially when Vincent company one of the game's great leaders and captains was overlooked

the Belgium Squad reportedly lost faith in Roberto Martinez following their Euro 2020 exit resulting in a disastrous 2022 World Cup and most recently of all TBO cir announced that he had made him self unavailable for international selection under current head coach Domino Tesco owing to internal disagreements after he was left out of Belgium's Euro 2024 Squad there are tensions within every dressing room at both club and international level and it is inevitable that everyone isn't always going to be best friends but Belgium have to contend with almost unique tensions on a macro level and did

seem to be plagued by especially pronounced personality clashes somewhat inconveniently of between their star players the one tournament where Belgium didn't have any major bust UPS or confrontations as far as we're aware nor many major injury problems was the 2018 World Cup where once again they enjoyed by far their best tournament sometimes it happens that the two best teams at a tournament due to the formatting and the draw meet before the final and personally I think that was the case of the 2018 World Cup Belgium won all three of their group games they overcame an

incredibly Brazilian Japan team who twice took the lead against them in the round of 16 and they beat the pre-tournament favorites Brazil 2-1 courtesy of a brilliant goal by Kevin De bruyne in the quarterfinals in the semifinals Belgium met France and there was almost nothing to split them Belgium dominated possession but couldn't make it count against a notoriously stingy and defensive French team under did a day shop a samuelon Titi header directly from a corner in the 51st minute was the only thing that separated the two teams it is telling I think that France comfortably

beat Argentina Uruguay and Croatia in the round of 16 quarterfinal and final but only beat Belgium by the narrowest of margins and in the third place playoff Belgium beat England for the second time at the same tournament this was the Pinnacle of Belgium's golden generation and it was only the finest of margins as I say which prevented them from overcoming a France Squad which had far more depth than their own and then most likely going on to win the World Cup had Belgium won that game I have little doubt that they would have overcome Croatia

you can call that a failure if you want in the sense that anything other than winning is losing if you ain't first you're last you know what I'm talking about that phrase trademark not Ricky but to me Belgium at the very least met expectations at the 2018 World Cup if not slightly exceeded them it always strikes me as odd also that Roberto Martinez is talked about as being some kind of unmitigated disaster who did The Impossible in failing to in a tournament with Belgium when he fixed a lot of their tactical and dressing room problems

initially at least made them the most consistent national team on the planet topping the FIFA world rankings and led them to their best ever finish at a World Cup where they were excellent in March 2010 Belgium ranked 68th in the world below Bahrain Cyprus and benine that's right go ahead and name a footballer from benine yeah Stefan ceson and Steve Mooney there are literally no others by the end of the 2010s they were the number one ranked national team on the planet Belgium that is not benine you didn't miss something having spent longer in top

spots than any other national team during that time Belgium beat Germany Portugal Brazil Italy France the Netherlands and of course England the last of whom they beat on three occasions it is one of the most meteoric rises in the history of the international game on that basis it seems reductive if not outright misleading to me to portray it as being some kind of catastrophic failure that's not to say that there weren't individual moments which were just that Wales had a phenomenal team spirit at Euro 2016 and Gareth Bale and Belgium were without key players in

Vincent company who missed the entire tournament through injury and Yan vuong who suffered an ankle injury Midway through it but with all of the Goodwill and that additional context in the world Belgium still had far superior players to Wales and defeating that game was probably the biggest disappointment of their golden generation era Portugal who beat Wales in the semis and won that Euros were not exactly a swashbuckling super team and much as Belgium were nowhere near as good a team at Euro 2016 as they would be at the 2018 World Cup had they have won

that game it's not inconceivable able given that France were also much weaker than in 2018 that they could have gone on to win it outside of that I am sympathetic to Belgium's tournament exits maybe it's because England's supposed golden generation has so many parallels to Belgium's from a lack of depth and slightly overrated prospects to the managerial question marks dressing room tensions key injuries at in opportune moments and in typically getting knocked out of tournaments by other great teams which is often overlooked at Euro 2020 by which stage Eden hazzard's career had already nose dived

at Real Madrid Belgium were one of only three teams to win all three group games they knocked out the holders Portugal who arguably had a stronger team than them in the round of 16 and then the team of the tournament Italy who went on to win the Euros were the only team to beat them very narrowly in a game where Italy scored two of their three shots on Target and Belgium could only score one of their four had it not been for Co pushing that s back a year and indeed Belgium's Euro Stadium never being

built which would have allowed them to play several games at home like England and Italy did that Euros rather than having to fly Here There and Everywhere all over the continent from game to game who knows what might have been I am glossing over the 2022 World Cup where Belgium were a total disaster and even Euro 2024 where they were just sort of okay because to my mind the Belgium team had been so depleted and even some key players who stuck around was so old that it was no longer part of the golden generation era

to continue the parallels with England it reminded me a bit of the 2014 World Cup where the golden generation tag was still stuck to the likes of Frank Lampard Steven Gerard and Wayne Rooney for the former two certainly look like old cart horses being paraded around the sweltering heat of the Brazilian Rainforest with all of their PALS like Ferdinand beckom skulls long since departed and replaced by much more modest talents it is worth noting that Belgium's golden generation may have been and gone but that doesn't mean that Belgium itself has I mean it's not yet

been partitioned for a start so there's that but from a football perspective Belgium's production line didn't finish with Hazard de bruer and ctoa some of the biggest talents of the current Belgium team leading them into the Next Generation like Jeremy doku lisis aenda and amadu andana are all in their early 20s and there is an abundance of even younger Talent waiting in the wings like RB light Zig goalkeeper Martin vandervort Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia lead United Winger lari ramatan and brucia Dorman forward Julian janville it may be the case that Belgium's New Generation has fewer

stars but more depth and is allowed to flourish outside of the spotlight and the sometimes unimaginable expectations and intense scrutiny of the team which preceded them but simply Belgium's golden generation was probably never quite quite as good as some people made out certainly past their star studed starting 11 but their new generation is probably a little bit better than a lot of people seem to think following some golden Generations the likes of Australia and Nigeria experienced massive drop offs going from teams full of superstars to a real death of talent I don't think that the

same is true of Belgium they are still ranked sixth in the world it's worth bearing in mind despite poor showings at the last two tournaments and those failures may actually prove to be a blessing for the Next Generation yet again there are some parallels with England Belgium still have a competitive team a bit like England at the 2018 World Cup who are young and inexperienced but also talented and unburdened by the failures of previous generations and are allowed to flourish in a much healthier environment well you know that's if the country doesn't dissolve its Parliament

break out into a full Civil War and split into three parts before they reach their Peak anyway that's it for today's video hit the like button if you enjoyed it I sincerely hope that was the case let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and of course make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on not just for this channel h7s but also my second Channel where I promise there will shortly be a fourth video but you know check out the first three if you haven't already um both of which should

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