The players and the coach will not admit it, but there is something special about the current Belgian soccer side and they should really be targeting something more than merely qualifying for the 2014 World Cup Belgian media and the public are waking up to the fact that they have a potentially golden generation after a dry period of a dozen years without a World Cup or Euro finals presence. They are, however, hard pressed to explain the abrupt change. At Belgium's training ground after Friday's opening 2-0 victory over Wales in qualifying Group A, newspaper journalists mostly felt the sudden blossoming of talent was more due to luck than planning, albeit aided by experience gained from playing outside Belgium. Ten of the 25-strong squad play in the English Premier League, including Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany and Arsenal skipper Thomas Vermaelen. Eden Hazard has already lit up Chelsea since his arrival this season. Jan Vertonghen and Moussa Dembele are recent arrivals at Tottenham Hotspur and Marouane Fellaini is dictating play for Everton. Outside England, Zenit St Petersburg have just bought midfielder Axel Witsel from Benfica for 40 million euros. "I'm not sure any of the players from five to 10 years ago would make it into the side today," said one team official. "Today, you've got to be playing for a big foreign club to make the cut." Comparisons are already being drawn with the Belgian sides of the 1980s, particularly the 1986 team featuring Jan Ceulemans and Enzo Scifo that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. "Seven or eight years ago we had no stars. Even compared with the sides of the 80s I think there's more individual talent, with the likes of Hazard, in this team," said Rudy Nuyens, a journalist of top-selling Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws, who has been following Belgium since 1986. "The clubs are working in a much more focused way with youth players, at Anderlecht, at Standard Liege although some of today's group went abroad at early ages," he said. Hazard joined Lille's youth academy at 14. Vermaelen moved to Ajax Amsterdam at the same age, with Vertonghen following him at 16. YOUNG TEAM Foreign scouts have certainly been busy checking out Belgian youth in recent months, Chelsea signing a 15-year-old from Anderlecht in June. Youth is indeed a Belgian asset. The average age of Belgium's starting 11 on Friday was 24. The two subs, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne, are respectively 19 and 21. However, to suggest that Belgium have suddenly discovered talent is not quite true. Eight of the 11 starters have 28 caps or more and six began the last bid for World Cup qualification in 2008. What is significant now, as well as the added experience, is that the subs are not just bench warmers. "You could change, say, five players and you'd not notice the difference in terms of quality," said Nuyens. Coach Marc Wilmots's challenge is to transform a potential on paper into a winning team, with Croatia a far tougher prospect than Wales as the next opponents on Tuesday. The squad would normally have had a day off after playing on Friday. Wilmots instead kept the players together for a full 10 days, insisting that they retain their concentration. "We've done nothing yet. There was no sense of elation among the players. Everyone is focused on the next match against Croatia," he said. Against Wales, Belgium showed composure and patience lacking in the past when goals did not come. "Previously I think we would have lost a match like that," said Fellaini, with the team now eyeing a further three points. Belgium have a recent history of disappointing starts. In their last seven World Cup and Euro qualification campaigns, they have won their first match only once. The 'Red Devils' last won two in succession in 1996 in qualification for France 1998. They last topped a qualifying group, and were undefeated, ahead of the 1990 World Cup. The public too are starting to believe. A sell-out crowd, many heeding the call to wear red, watched last month's 4-2 defeat of the Dutch in a friendly. Tickets are sold out for Tuesday's match with Croatia in Brussels With a population on a par with the Czech Republic, Portugal and 2004 Euro champions Greece and an economy similar in size to regular tournament participants Sweden, Belgium have clearly underperformed in football terms over the past decade. It is still early days, but that period may be over. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter: @AO Sports/ and Facebook AhramOnlineSports)
