Two sides to Belgian football

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This article was published 14/10/2022 (1402 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRUGES — On Wednesday night, northwest Flanders threw a party. On Thursday morning, it’s all they could talk about.

“Historic!” blared Het Nieuwsblad. “Brilliant from start to finish,” gloated De Morgen. “Selfie after selfie for Simon Superman,” recalled HLN, the region’s biggest daily. This Simon, apparently, seemed to especially enjoy the occasion.

He would be Simon Mignolet. Yes, Liverpool fans, “that” Simon—late of Anfield and now the star goalkeeper for high-flying Club Brugge. Mobbed by the club’s travelling supporters at Madrid’s Barajas airport, he was hailed as the hero of the scoreless draw with Atletico that put the Jupiler Pro League winners into the last 16 of the Champions League.

“An historic qualification,” hailed Brussels’ French-language La Deniere Heure, pointing out that De Blauw-Zwart will be just the third Belgian representative in the knockout round of Europe’s most prestigious club competition, following Anderlecht and Gent.

In his comments after the broadcast from the Spanish capital, VTM pundit and former Brugge forward Marc Degryse speculated his alma mater could even progress into the quarterfinals, so long as they avoided the English clubs. “Against the other teams that will finish second,” he said, “they certainly have a chance.”

The discussion at the VTM desk wasn’t all positive.

When the lineups were released, and the analysts learned that Atletico boss Diego Simeone had omitted Belgium internationals Axel Witsel and Yannick Carrasco, talk quickly turned to the state of the national team.

“(Kevin) De Bruyne will soon find it difficult to do it alone in Qatar,” offered presenter Maarten Breckx. De Bruyne, the Manchester City maestro, is one of the few Belgium stars to be suitably fit and in form barely a month out from the World Cup.

“It still looks dark for many Red Devils,” stated ex-Anderlecht striker Jan Mulder, using the nickname of the 2018 semi-finalists.

Just like that, the panel summarized the awkward juxtaposition of the sport in this country. Because Belgian football, at least for the moment, is a case of duelling narratives.

Canada, incidentally, has a part to play in both.

Since making his comeback from a quadriceps injury late last month against Uruguay, Tajon Buchanan’s reintegration in the Club Brugge lineup has been equally quick and effective. The 23-year-old, who made the switch from New England Revolution in August 2021, scored against Mechelen on Oct. 1, assisted at home to Atletico Madrid three days later, and on Wednesday might have won a penalty away to the same opponent.

He’s a popular player here, and it speaks volumes that manager Carl Hoefkens has faith in him. This, after all, is a manager who prefers to use as few players as possible. “I don’t like to rotate, just to give chances,” he recently told De Morgen.

Cyle Larin could attest to that.

Canada’s record goal-scorer, Larin joined Club Brugge on a free transfer from Besiktas during the summer. He’s so far played just over 200 minutes and wasn’t even in the matchday squad at the Metropolitano. Ferran Jutgla is Hoefkens’ first-choice striker, and waiting in the wings is Ukraine international Roman Yaremchuk, for whom the club paid Benfica €16 million in August.

That said, Canadians are, and have been, a part of Belgian club football’s successes.

Buchanan is impressing at Brugge, and it wasn’t so long ago that Jonathan David was scoring 23 goals in his final season with Gent. And Anderlecht fans still think fondly of Tomasz Radzinski, who in 2001 was integral to a Belgian club’s first participation in the knockout rounds of the Champions League.

If optimism surrounding the club game is running high—and further buoyed by Union Saint-Gilloise’s unbeaten record in the Europa League—it is tempered, quite severely, by the perceived decline of the national team.

Tangibly, there are the injuries.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who starts ahead of Mignolet for the Red Devils, didn’t train on Friday and will miss Sunday’s Clasico at home to Barcelona. Borussia Dortmund right-back Thomas Meunier picked up a groin injury against Sevilla on Tuesday, and AC Milan winger Alexis Saelemaekers is out with a knee problem. Then there is Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku, struggling to come back from a thigh tear sustained in August.

Eden Hazard is another matter entirely. The Belgium captain remains deservedly out of favour at Real Madrid and has been benched in five of Los Blancos’ last six matches in La Liga. And while he played in the two Nations League contests last month, he used the off days in between to have a little fun.

“I am not happy about that,” admitted manager Roberto Martinez on Sunday, following the EURO 2024 qualification draw. “I’ll talk to him about it. Face to face.”

Martinez, too, is under considerable pressure. Out of contract in December, his popularity, according to Sunday’s De Morgen, “is on the wane.” He likely requires nothing short of a World Cup triumph in Qatar to earn an extension. And no one here really believes that’s going to happen.

That 2018 semi-final defeat to France in Saint Petersburg — a match they dominated at times after ousting Brazil in the previous round — may well have been the high point for the so-called Golden Generation. And while an impressive group of youngsters including Jeremy Doku, Charles De Ketelaere and Lois Openda probably merit a look in the first team, Martinez has persisted with his veteran core.

Is this a side that’s gone stale? That seems to be the general sense.

“The expectations in Belgium aren’t that high,” conceded HLN’s European correspondent Kristof Terreur, in an interview with Football Now. “I already see some people saying that we won’t survive the group stage because we don’t have an easy group with Canada and Morocco … And then there is Croatia, of course.”

Canada, about to contest a first World Cup finals since 1986, are respected here. Feared? No. But certainly considered a potential bogey team — a tricky first assignment for a Belgian outfit that looked tired and out of ideas against the Netherlands.

Alphonso Davies, making the news as whispers of a move to Real Madrid become more and more audible, is obviously highly regarded. And if Meunier and Saelemaekers are unavailable Nov. 23 in Al Rayyan, he’ll have his way down that left-hand side.

Buchanan, on the opposite flank, should have similar joy opposite Hazard and, presumably, Carrasco. Not that anyone here would be surprised.

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“Tajon Buchanan dabbled with the Atletico defense like a Champions League routine,” gushed Het Nieuwsblad.

Northwest Flanders may be in no mood to party next month.

Well, maybe a corner of it.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter @JerradPeters