Euro 2016: Red Devils set sights on glory in France

After so many years watching from afar as the top sides battle it out in the big competitions, Belgium’s footballers are now part of the show.

When the European Championships begin on Friday in France, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld and the other Red Devils will be one of the most feared teams in the tournament. The question is, can they go all the way and claim the trophy at the final in Paris on 10 July?

If you believe the Fifa world rankings, Belgium should be the runaway favourites: they topped the listing for four months until April, before relinquishing their position to Argentina. World Cup winners Germany, the next highest European side, are only in fourth, while Spain, winners of Euro 2012, are sixth.

Yet such statistics are deceptive. While this is indeed a wonderful generation of Belgian players, they haven’t faced a serious test in football since they were knocked out of the World Cup quarter-finals by Argentina two years ago in Brazil.

Belgium certainly qualified for Euro 2016 in style. They topped their pool comfortably, with a home draw and an away defeat to second-placed Wales their only real blips. Along the way, they scored 24 goals and conceded just five.

Tense and scrappy

But the big tournaments are where it really counts. The Red Devils will feel it right from the start, on 13 June, when they line up against Italy in their opening match in Lyon. Italy, four-time World Cup winners, have the experience and nous to raise their game in these events, and they could quickly puncture Belgium’s hopes.

Their next match, five days later against a resilient Ireland, cannot be taken for granted, either. And the final group game, against Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden, is likely to be tense and scrappy.

The top two teams from each group go into the knockout round of 16. Belgium can reasonably be expected to go on and reach the quarter-finals, but if they top the group, their most likely opponents would be Germany.

The Red Devils will have plenty of firepower at their disposal in France. Coach Marc Wilmots – who has done a sterling job of steadily improving the team’s performance since stepping up from his previous role of assistant in 2012 – has filled his 23-man squad with talent.

De Bruyne is likely to be the key player. Although a serious knee injury saw him miss several months of the season, he has grown immeasurably in stature: a dynamic playmaker, his vision and intelligence are matched by incredible energy.

He proved he can handle the pressure in the German Bundesliga, where he set a record number of assists, and in the Premier League where he was voted Manchester City’s player of the month a record number of times in his first season. De Bruyne demonstrated his quality last month when he scored a stunning late winner as Belgium won 2-1 against Switzerland in Geneva.

Alongside De Bruyne up front, captain Hazard is still one of Europe’s top strikers despite an underwhelming season at Chelsea. He will likely be joined by one of Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, Napoli’s Dries Mertens and Liverpool’s Christian Benteke.

Wilmots then has to choose from Roma’s tenacious Radja Nainggolan, Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele Zenit Saint Petersburg’s Axel Witsel and Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini for a narrow midfield.

The biggest issue lies in defence, where Vincent Kompany's injury rules him out (he will be in the BBC TV studio instead, as a pundit alongside the likes of Gary Lineker and Thierry Henry), while Zenit Saint Petersburg’s Nicolas Lombaerts and Celtic’s Dedryck Boyata are also on the sidelines.

That probably means a place for 20-year-old Jason Denayer of Manchester City and Barcelona’s Thomas Vermaelen. Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen might be able to replicate their fine Tottenham partnership, where they conceded only 27 goals in 29 league games.

Outsiders

Wilmots still insists Belgium are outsiders to win Euro 2016, and he instead sees Spain, Germany and France as the top teams for the tournament. A sobering 1-1 draw against Finland in a friendly this week showed that Belgium should not take anything for granted.

But even with absentees, the Red Devils have an incredibly strong spine. If they can get their midfield and attack to gel sufficiently, they’ve enough firepower to trouble even the sternest of defences in France.

Indeed, anything short of a semi-final place would feel like a disappointment for a country whose talents keep rolling off the production line.

It would be about time; this is only their third European Championship since 1980, when they finished runners-up. For a country that has not tasted success in a major tournament since winning gold at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, this is perhaps their best ever chance of glory.

13 June, Belgium vs Italy (20.00, Stade de Lyon); 18 June, Belgium vs Republic of Ireland (14.00, Stade de Bordeaux); 22 June, Belgium vs Sweden (20.00, Stade de Nice)

Photo: Dirk Waem/BELGA