The World Cup qualifiers haven’t yet finished, but people
have already started predictions regarding who may win the WC. The usual
suspects like Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Italy are backed
by most people to win the World Cup. But in every World Cup, we see one or two
teams who upset all odds and perform beyond expectations. Whether it be
Croatia(Semis) in 98, Turkey and South Korea(Semis) in 2002, Uruguay(Semis) in
2010. So we will take a look at some of the teams who can pose such a threat
again in World Cup 2014. First we will discuss about Belgium, and then we will
discuss other potential dark horses.
Nickname- Red Devils(No its not related to Manchester
United)
Manager- Marc Wilmots
Captain- Vincent Kompany
Fifa Ranking- 19
They are in Grp A of the European Qualifiers and are leading
the group with 16 points along with Croatia who are second due to an inferior
goal difference. They have an excellent team, and some of their youngsters are
simply world class. Boasting the likes of Thibaut Courtois and Simon Mignolet
in Goal, Vertonghen, Vermaelen, Kompany, Van Buyten, Alderweireld in Defence,
Defour, Fellaini, Witsel, Dembele, Hazard in Midfield and Mirallas, Benteke and
Lukaku as Forwards, they have an excellent squad. Managed by Mark Wilmots,
their first aim would be to top their European Qualifying group and thus gain
an Automatic berth in WC, and then think about how far they can go there.
Strengths-Young dynamic team with lots of potential, on
their day, they can match, and even beat the very best. Solid defence and
midfield.
Weakness-On big occasions such as the World Cup, experience
is also required, but most of their best players are very young and lack
experience of a big International tournament. Their forwards don’t seem to
score a lot of goals, with their highest goalscorer in their current team being
centre back Daniel Van Buyten with 10 goals(70 caps). Kevin Mirallas has 6
goals in 34 caps, Romelu Lukaku has 3 in 19 games, while Benteke has 4 in 12.
Key Players- Kompany, Fellaini, Hazard.
Upcoming European Qualifying fixtures- vs Serbia(H), vs
Scotland(A), vs Croatia(A), vs Wales(H)
My predictions – I think they will lose to Croatia and will
win the rest of the games. If results go their way, they can top the Group and
gain a spot in World Cup. If they finish 2nd in their group, they
will have to play against one of the runners up in one of the groups to get an
entry to the World Cup. If they are able to enter the World Cup, I think they
will get to the quarter finals at least.
Do check our blog for upcoming articles, and our team will
be back again with an article on one of the Potential Dark Horses.
-NAVODAY
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