4:33 am | July 10, 2018 | Go to Source | Author: Daniel Rouse
Belgium was long smeared as a cast of skilled individuals that were collectively a muddled team destined to underachieve. However, Tuesday will see Roberto Martinez’s throng compete with France for a place in the World Cup final.
The stars have sparkled in Russia, with the frontline of Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Eden Hazard drawing reams of plaudits for their quarter-final performances against Brazil, but – as the early exits of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo attest – the importance of teamwork has come to the fore at this tournament.
Before what promises to be an enthralling encounter with their Gallic neighbours, theScore picks out six largely unheralded Red Devils who have more than played the part at this World Cup.
Axel Witsel
Witsel‘s importance to this team swelled when Radja Nainggolan was criminally left out of the squad by Martinez. It’s easy to deride him – he appeared to seek an exorbitant pay packet rather than sporting competitiveness when joining Zenit St. Petersburg and Tianjin Quanjian – but he has started each match barring the drab Group G affair with England.
Witsel was either the best or second-best at retaining possession in those four appearances, and is the overall team leader for completed tackles (eight) and runner-up to Jan Vertonghen in interceptions with five.
Nainggolan is by far the superior player, but Witsel’s sensible use of the ball has given license to Belgium’s attackers to roam. There’s a reason why the 29-year-old is nearing a century of caps.
Nacer Chadli
West Bromwich Albion is clinging onto some of its better players following relegation from the Premier League – Ben Foster and Jonny Evans have left, but the other departees are replaceable – but may be set for a helpful windfall with the way Chadli‘s World Cup campaign has exploded since the round of 16.
The versatile attacking midfielder contributes more than Yannick Carrasco, the player he replaced for the final-eight squabble with Brazil, defensively and in two starts has mustered more two key passes than his compatriot managed in three inclusions from the first whistle.
Chadli was out of his depth at Tottenham Hotspur, but with his quality should be one of the better players at a mid-table-standard side in the Premier League.
Thomas Meunier
Meunier isn’t low profile as a Paris Saint-Germain regular, but he has been a strong asset in Martinez’s polarising wing-back schematic.
The 26-year-old has hit double the accurate crosses than Eden Hazard and Dries Mertens combined, and displayed impressive patience and awareness when he exchanged passes with De Bruyne before sliding a ball through for Lukaku against Tunisia. He was also the player whose pass slipped by Lukaku en route to Chadli for the winner in the Japan classic.
Meunier will be suspended for the semi-final with France.
Dedryck Boyata
Boyata isn’t the most graceful of defenders, and for a day job he can let his mind wander while Celtic soundly defeats cannon fodder in the Scottish Premiership. It’s not the greatest preparation for testing yourself against the famed names of international football.
But for Belgium’s three group-stage matches, Boyata filled in well for former Manchester City teammate Vincent Kompany. Granted, he was fielded in full matches against Panama, Tunisia, and England reserves, but snuffed out attacks well with intelligent interceptions in the first two tests, and then led his team with a huge seven clearances in the third outing.
Boyata is unlikely to be given another starting role unless there’s another injury in the backline, but he put in a commendable shift for his squad when called upon.
Yannick Carrasco
Out of all of Martinez’s tactical calls at the Belgium helm, his decision to deploy Carrasco as wing-back is the most ridiculed. He’s a winger by trade, so in transition regularly leaves his side short-handed down its left-hand side.
But has he been that bad? His defensive offerings against Panama were greater than those of Meunier, helping hush a side of the pitch that saw the unpredictable Armando Cooper often double up with Edgar Barcenas.
It’s not Carrasco’s fault that Martinez views him as a viable option at wing-back – something Martinez seems to have reconsidered given Belgium’s use of a back-four when out of possession in the Brazil quarter-final – and, for a player who featured in an 8-0 loss to Shanghai SIPG on his Dalian Yifang debut, perhaps expectations should be modest.
Marouane Fellaini
Fellaini is Jose Mourinho’s plan B. The Brussels native will be called off the bench when Manchester United needs a goal, and indicates the beginning of a rather unattractive game of “find the curly mass.” Sometimes it works.
Martinez, a manager who has obsessively and sometimes ruinously abided to a ball-on-the-ground attacking formula, used that old trick to great effect in the round of 16 meeting with Japan. Fellaini bumped and bounced around the last man in defence while De Bruyne and Eden Hazard tried to something more pleasing on the eye, until the latter blindly swung his left trotter at the ball to send a cross to the edge of the six-yard box. In that scenario, super-sub Fellaini hoovers up airborne deliveries like a black hole consumes dust.
The oft-overlooked side of Fellaini’s game was evident against Brazil. Rather than being the target of aerial bombardments, the 30-year-old relished his role of disrupting the Canarinho midfield with three tackles, three clearances, and two interceptions. It will be a surprise if he doesn’t start again in the final-four fracas with France.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)
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