Belgium's golden age generation: Now or never

The current golden system of Belgian football has reached maturity, but also means that they do not have much time. World Cup 2018 may be the last chance for Belgium to write on the yellow pages with the generation of the Courtois, Hazard or Lukaku ...
Belgium's golden age generation: Now or never
World Cup 2018 schedule
Next step to him
In the 1980s, Belgium produced a generation of luminaries with Jean Marie Pfaff, Jan Ceulemans, Enzo Scifo or Paul Van Himst. Then the squad is quite small on the map of the world football was then won the throne EURO 1980 and impressed at the 1986 World Cup when Diego Maradona just stopped in front of Argentina in the semi-finals.

Then Belgium fell into a downturn, the above generation stepped through the career slope. They retired to become a European team. Since 1986, only one Belgian has been included in the six subsequent EURO rounds. The only time was when Belgium co-hosted the tournament with the Netherlands in 2000, but they were soon eliminated in the group stage. At this time, Belgium's World Cup qualifier is just a little bit more, but still plays the fringe. In the six largest football festivals taking place after 1986, the Red Devils contributed three times, but were eliminated twice from the group stage and one stop in the round of eight.

Thus, the Belgian football has spent nearly two decades living in the dark, after the stars of the 80s generation turned off.

But after 20 years, the Belgian football produced a second "golden generation". It is a great talent with outstanding, completely superior to the previous. It is not difficult to list a large number of Belgian football stars over the years. They are Courtois, Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Kompany, Vertonghen, Witsel, De Bruyne, Carrasco, Hazard, Mertens, Lukaku ...



And as you know, with the strong rise, the Belgian football has returned in major tournaments recently. They won the 2014 World Cup and returned to the continental playground at EURO 2016 after decades of absence.

Unlike Pfaff, Ceulemans and Scifo, however, the De Bruyne, Hazard and Lukaku sects have not yet achieved the expected results. Or, to be more precise, Belgium has not achieved the level of success of one of the world's biggest stars over the years.

History of gold with gold generation?
Belgium is in the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup and EURO 2016. Regrettably, most of Belgium's world-class players are playing in the top two stages, thus making Belgium no longer. can make yourself become a real power.

In Russia this year, the "golden generation" will enter the third major tournament. We can say this is the last chance for the De Bruyne, Kompany, Hazard, Fellaini, Lukaku ... write a yellow history for football Belgium.

In fact, the relatively small Belgian soccer scene only blooms in talent, not the end of this class. The reality is that they are hardly able to find the next generation of gold players. Or, in other words, once the present great flamboyan crosses the slopes of his career, Belgian football will be back on the top stage, just like what happened after the "golden generation" 80 years.

The current star of the Belgian football is almost in a ripe state, or has been and is about to reach the late afternoon. The pillar from Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Kompany, Vertonghen, Witsel, Fellaini, Mertens to Dembele are all over 30 years old. In fact, the Belgian footballer's current generation still has some prolific players such as Courtois, Lukaku, De Bruyne or Hazard. However, they will become lone stars in the sky of Belgium football when the elite in this generation have retired from the career.

Russia this year will almost be the last chance of the second generation of Belgian football to win, as when the first generation of gold won the EURO 1980 or third place in the 1986 World Cup. If not, the ball Belgian rock will probably have to wait 20, 30 years or so!

Coach Martinez: "Belgium should avoid England's fault"
Belgian coach Roberto Martinez believes it is necessary to draw on the experience of the golden generation of English football with Beckham, Gerrard, and Lampard, who have failed to win a major title. "We need to find out why they are not successful. It could be a problem from a dressing room, a relationship and a play style for a team with too many good players. "