BELGIUM’S BACK THREE ARE BRITTLE
SO IT turns out that the first true test of England’s World Cup may be a little phoney after all. With Belgium already qualified for the last 16, coach Roberto Martinez says that he may rest players who picked up knocks in the dismantling of Tunisia on Saturday. Chief among the injured are Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, and that’s a shame. Hazard was wonderful in Moscow while Lukaku has the look of a man ready to prove a point to the Belgian public. In Group G it seems that the value of finishing top may be diminished. Top spot should give a team an easier run through the knockout stages, but that’s not necessarily the case here. Belgium and England will not lose sleep over whether it is Poland, Senegal, Colombia or Japan in the next round. After that, though, it could be Brazil for the group winners. All we can hope is that we don’t see two scratch teams going through the motions in Kaliningrad in three days’ time. The World Cup deserves a proper contest between two proud nations. Certainly we saw enough of Belgium on Saturday to learn that not much about Martinez the coach has changed. Martinez’s teams always played expansively but often looked brittle at the back, too. That is the case with Belgium. Belgium do things with the ball that England will never do. The movement and passing of Hazard and Dries Mertens in support of Lukaku was marvellous at Spartak Stadium. Tunisia were hapless opposition but the manner in which they were routinely unpicked by Belgium’s intelligent football was great to watch. At the other end, though, it looks like a different story. Belgium use Spurs pair Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen with Celtic’s Dedryck Boyata in a back three and when Tunisia pressed them, they didn’t always look comfortable. Tunisia scored twice and had other chances, too. Belgium will hope that injured Vincent Kompany will be back for the game against England. Ahead of the back three sits Kevin De Bruyne. It is an unusual position for a player used to getting into advanced positions for Manchester City. The deeper role didn’t always seem to suit him on Saturday but he did play one super throughball for Hazard to score in the second half. Much will be made of how easily Belgium cut the North Africans open, compared to England’s relatively lame efforts last Monday. But Tunisia sat in for a draw against England while here they attempted to engage, and got what was coming to them. Thursday’s game should be intriguing but it is a shame Martinez is shifting his priorities. That reflects the quality of the tournament. If teams do not care whether they win their group or not, something is very wrong indeed. FIFA’s solution? From 2026, there will not be 32 teams at the World Cup. There will be 48.