Is World Cup in Qatar a last chance for Belgium’s golden generation?

World Cup in Qatar starts shortly. Teams are already counting their injured players. The ones that are lucky and qualitative enough will make it to the tournament. There are quite a lot of favorites. Brasil, Argentina, France, Germany … but I’ve been thinking about one for quite a long time. Belgium. Their golden generation has probably the last chance to win something.

Every now and then a particular set of players come together and form a remarkable squad. Outstanding individuals come and go on a permanent basis. But when more of them emerge at the same time, the chances of an outstanding result increase rapidly for that team.

We all remember Spain’s golden generation that swept everything away from 2008–2012. There were some exceptional generations from other nations in the past as well.

For my home country, Slovenia, our golden generation was present from 1999 to 2002 when Slovenia qualified for Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002. Yes, I know, not the same level of expectations. But the standards differ.

Anyway, do we remember those that were exceptional and didn’t win any silverware? Or qualify for the big tournament in the eyes of smaller countries?

Some do, and some don’t. I am for one eagerly waiting to see whether Belgium will capitalize on their exceptional team which definitely won’t come around that fast for them.

Let’s get something straight. The most successful countries with a profound history, qualitative leagues, undying fan support, excellent national youth team management, and other favorable non-footballing aspects (economic situation, relatively stable political situation…) will always put together a decent team.

On a contrary, when these aspects are not met (that often), a generation of classy individuals for a particular country stands out more obviously.

Like in the case of Belgium who showed their first signs of “building something special” in the 2014 World Cup in Brasil.

They were eliminated in the quarter-final against Argentina. The likes of Thibaut Courtois, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Dries Mertens, and Romelu Lukaku were relatively young and totally inexperienced in the big tournaments.

Therefore, nothing special was expected from them, so a finish inside the top eight was seen as successful and something to build on. For Euro 2016, their role immediately changed.

Backed up by their first experience in a big tournament and a decent finish two years before, transformed Belgium into the “ones to watch”. However, their expectations came short after losing to Wales in the quarter-final.

There’s a non-written rule that practically every team has to experience a major disappointment in order to later succeed. Belgium ticked the box in that European championship, so they thought nothing can go wrong in the following World Cup.

It nearly didn’t. Belgium was flying. Besides the above-mentioned players a veteran Vincent Kompany, Axel Witsel, Marouane Fellaini, and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco all contributed heavily and played their roles exceptionally.

Some other players could have been mentioned here as well, but I just honorably mentioned the key ones. Nonetheless, the Belgian Red Devils, as some call them, reached a peak.

In a tight game in the semi-final, later World Cup champions France won it on a set piece. A small detail prevailed. Belgium thrashed England in the game for third place, finishing on the podium, but there was a sense that a historical achievement was closer than ever before.

After covid-19 struck in 2020, Euro, which took place in 2021 was very specific. For the first time held in more than 2 lands, for the second time with more teams, strict health protocols which could rule the players out from one day to another, limited fan support with half-full stadiums …

Although Belgium was among the favorites once again, it was difficult to expect how teams will cope with the most hurdles in the history of all competitions along the way.

Red Devils once again showed their class, but later champions Italy were better in the quarter-final. For the first time, Roberto Martínez’s management was seriously questioned. Despite failures, he kept his job.

With some players retiring from international football before the tournament and right after it, some having trouble finding regular playing time on a high level, and some fresh new faces stepping up (Youri Tielemans, Jérémy Doku …) to take a bigger role, there were obvious signs that the core is still there but it’s not that powerful and stable anymore.

In addition, the framework around that core had changed rapidly.

So, what does the next World Cup in Qatar hold for them? It’s probably their last chance. Now or never I would say.

However, a task is more difficult than it may seem. Despite all the experience, Belgium’s players didn’t get any younger. Most of the key players are over 30.

Furthermore, Romelu Lukaku practically didn’t have any regular playing time this season, Dris Mertens respectively took a step back when moving to Galatasaray, and the same applies to Jan Vertonghen and Benfica. Eden Hazard is just a mere shadow from his masterclass in the past …

So, will the Champions League final’s MVP Thibaut Courtois and last year's Premier League MVP Kevin De Bruyne be enough to lead the others to the title? My strong feeling is no. Yet, football is full of surprises. Let’s see what the Belgians have prepared for us. Maybe they have saved the best for the last.