LOOKS BAD KOMPANY...
ROBERTO MARTINEZ has taken a risk with Belgium’s World Cup chances by gambling on the fitness of injury-prone defenders Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen.
The Red Devils chief is banking on the pair winning their respective battles as he sent home standby centre-half Laurent Ciman.
But he admitted that Kompany, who is struggling with a groin problem, will not be fit until the clash against England on June 28 – at the earliest.
The Manchester City skipper suffered the setback during a friendly against Portugal and was not seen at training yesterday.
Vermaelen has an issue with his hamstring and remained in Moscow to recover while the remainder of the squad flew to Sochi to prepare for tomorrow’s Group G opener against Panama.
Belgium play with three at the back and appear to have ample resources with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen on board.
But beyond Dedryck Boyata, there is only Anderlecht’s rookie Leander Dendoncker – and Martinez appeared unusually confused when trying to justify his decision.
He said: “The risk is something I don’t want to go into. Look, a player can be injured at any minute.
“Thomas Vermaelen has shown when he’s available that he can be ready to perform. He is an out-andout defender who has done that many times.
“And Vincent Kompany has been in this situation for a long time now.
“So I took the decision to use his experience around the group.
“I’m very confident with Kompany’s progress since the Portugal game. I’m confident he will be available for the last game of the group phase.
“He, too, has the experience to be able to perform straightaway. But we do have another four centre-halves who are willing to perform.”
Meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne simply shrugged off criticism that his X-rated lunged at Adnan Januzaj was anything out of the ordinary.
De Bruyne was filmed charging into former Manchester United man Januzaj, but said: “It was just the intensity of training. It happens.”