Waddle: Belgium Prem stars must prove their worth
CHRIS WADDLE believes Belgium’s Premier League stars are under more pressure than England at the World Cup.
Former Three Lions winger Waddle – in the World Cup squads of 1986 and 1990 – insists Gareth Southgate’s side must make a winning start to their Group G campaign against Tunisia in Volgograd tomorrow night.
But he reckons the failure of group rivals Belgium to hit the heights in major tournaments means ex-Everton boss Roberto Martinez and his men face intense scrutiny.
The Belgians, who meet Panama in the group’s opening game in Sochi, boast the talents of Manchester
City’s Kevin
De Bruyne, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku.
But at both the World Cup in Brazil four years ago and Euro 2016 in France they were knocked out at the quarter-final stage, losing 1-0 to Argentina and 3-1 to Chris Coleman’s Wales respectively.
Waddle said: “Belgium are a great team with great players who we know a lot about. But in tournaments where they have been expected to reach the semi-finals, they haven’t done it.
“If they want to stamp themselves on the world stage and say to people, ‘Listen, we are a class outfit’, this is their chance.
“They have the players, but they’ll be under a lot of pressure.’’
Waddle was in the England side that beat Belgium 1-0 after extratime in the last 16 at the 1990 World Cup.
He added: “Playing Belgium brings back some special memories.
“It was great, it got us going and got the whole country going.
“I think they are a better side now, though. “We had a funny group then. We had Egypt, Republic of Ireland and Holland. We got through and the hardest part was getting out of the group.
“Nobody wants to lose and you don’t want to get beaten in the first game.
“It becomes very tactical and teams get nervous and scared at times.
“If we’re going to do well, we have to beat Tunisia and Panama.’’
Belgium v Panama Tomorrow, 4pm, BBC One