The Royal Belgian Football Association on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of former RB Leipzig manager, Domenico Tedesco as the new boss, taking over from the departed Roberto Martinez.
More than six years under Martinez, Belgian had the best crop of players assembled in the National Team history but even if their number was impressive as they were able to win a good percentage of games, they came short time and again where it mattered most.
79 games under the Spaniard, Belgium won an astonishing 56 and lost just ten times, but those defeats have come in the more significant games, and have been detrimental and only a few of their wins was worth note.
A core of talented players, tagged the golden generation had only a bronze medal, earned in the 2018 world cup in Russia to show for the years of playing together, under Martinez. That in a tournament they had eliminated the best in it, only to lose to eventual Champions, France.
A lot of things they could have done better but all is in the past now and regret will amount to nothing.
Despite it all being in the past, the way it ended in the era of Martinez was anything but positive as even though the Belgium camp tried to deny any disagreement between the players, it was too obvious not to note not all was right.
It all came to light in the wake of their opening game in the FIFA World Cup, when they struggled to get past Canada but eventually won a by a lone goal thanks to so many wrongdoings of the Canadian players.
For instance, Alphonso Davies seeing his penalty saved with the chance to score the opening goal of the game, which might have changed the outcome of the match.
While it was an horror show for the Red Devils, the win clouded the atmosphere and everyone tried to remain positive for the sake of their own courage heading into the next games.
However, after they were completely overrun by Morocco in their second game, where they ended up losing 2-0, there was no hiding for any of the players, and Kevin De Bruyne’s comments of criticism was not well received by his teammates.
The Manchester City Midfielder, when responding to questions if they can win the world cup said; “no chance. We’re too old.”
“I think our chance was 2018. We have a good team, but it is ageing. We lost some key players. We have some good new players coming, but they are not at the level other players were in 2018. I see us more as outsiders.”
Thibaut Courtois was quick to dismiss the claim, saying age doesn’t reduce performance.
And when the team eventually crashed out of the competition, there were reports of players aiming digs at one another but it was obvious in the pitch that they were not competitive enough.
Their chance had come and gone before Qatar 2022 to be candid, with a lot of teams already better than them collectively while some of their best are not up to the level of even getting a starting spot in the team.
A typical example is Eden Hazard, who has now announced his international retirement following the dismal outing in Qatar. A few years ago, he was one of the top players of the game but his level in the last tournament was not even worth selection to start with.
But that is in the past now. It is now up to Domenico Tedesco to build from arguably nothing, because the players in their last competitions are not committed as the moment, so he will need to select which of them will be able to continue with the national team under his tutelage.
The 37year old Belgian has not the experience or the reputation of managing top level players. Maybe a little in his time with Leipzig but none of those players come close to the level of many in the Red Devils team.
Restoring harmony back in the squad will be his primary assignment, which will be a tough task and will be challenging, but being a son of the country himself, the FA giving him more authority can help him effectively get around the situation.
The golden generation is gone but Belgium sure have several other players of good quality which the manager can build his team on a long term or otherwise.
Amadou Onana, Charles De Ketelaere, Youri Tielemans, Jeremy Doku and Zino Debast are all still age 25 and under, and can be trusted on the long run while there are still several others waiting for the chance to represent their country.
Tedesco is not as lucky as Martinez at the time of their appointment as the manager of the Belgian Red Devils but if he gets his tactics right, achieving more than his predecessor is not farfetched.
Interesting times ahead for a man, who was fired from his previous job in RB Leipzig, where he recorded two wins in his final eight games.
His managerial number isn’t too bad considering the levels of teams he has managed but that run to his dismissal by Leipzig is not good on his resume.
However, national team job is a different challenge entirely and he will have at least more than a year to prepare his team before the next major international competition comes up, and even that will not be a judge of his performance.
What he is able do between now and the turn of the year will be evidence enough to know if he fits well in the job. But for now, it is safe to say the Association have made a good choice in choosing Tedesco as the man to take them forward.
Author : Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
