It has been a long time since I stepped foot into Just Plain Football. I'm sure all my wonderful readers have missed me very, very much. Last summer I created this masterpiece and planned to keep writing it forever, with no breaks. Then school hit. Time was short and all the creativity I had was sucked out of me at school. Next, the beginning of this summer came into focus. But, I went to Europe on a great 3 week journey and toured many amazing places. Some of you probably read "Food and Football: a europe journey" Well now I'm back and ready to write expert blogs and give expert insight on the world of football. Hope you enjoy my long awaited return:
No, in Europe I did not visit Belgium. Although, a thought did come to me! Why is Belgium's National team not good? Shouldn't they be amazing? I mean look at their lineup, it boasts many Premier League Players including: Courtois, Mignolet, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Kompany, Fellaini, Dembele, De Bruyne (now a free agent), Hazard, Mirallas, and Lukaku. Hazard did not even start in their World Cup Qualifier vs Serbia. The supporting players of these Premier League players are really good too, or on club level anyways. Maybe it's because they are just young or something like that. The experience could be lacking. The chemistry might not be there yet, but it will come. There are 3 reasons you should be afraid of the up and coming Belgium team: scorers/passers, good goalie's, and a good balance.
Eden Hazard joined Chelsea just his season. He impressed right away. Some players have trouble adjusting to the Premier League, not him. He was part of Chelsea's first "blank number of goals". I forgot how many but I remember it was an insane amount. So he either scored or assisted Chelsea's first few goals this season. Dembele and Mirallas are both good playmakers too. Especially the young Mirallas, he has ability to score and assist. The point of all these opinions/facts is..... everybody on the team has talent. Nobody seems to just be a Chamak and stand around and do nothing for 90 minutes.
Belgium have 2 fantastic goal keepers. I was surprised when I looked at the starting lineup of one of their World Cup Qualifiers and saw Courtois starting instead of Mignolet. I thought, who is this guy? Then I did some research and found out he is pretty boss too. Since I got to watch a lot of the Premier League games on TV, I saw what skills Mignolet had. It just sucks that Sunderland could not do anything to protect him, or even score on the other side of the field. I've seen potatoes more exciting then that team, oh well they stayed in the top flight though. Courtois has been on loan from Chelsea to Atheltico Madrid for 3 years now! He's earned some experience there and when Petr Cech finally retires, he will probably take his spot. Mignolet is looking for a bigger and better club, he might of found one already! So these 2 keepers are good for a National team. Let's face it, some National teams just have sucky goalies.
Lastly, the balance of short,tall,strong, and weak players look great on the Belgium side. You have strong and buff defenders like Kompany. Strong midfielders like Fellaini who had an excellent season this year. Then Lukaku up front, who had a great season on loan, is strong in the sense of physical strong too. Hazard and Mirallas are quick and have good control, while Vermalen, who did not have the best season at Arsenal, is a pretty quick and tall defender. This mix of players is good for any national team. England's youth system focuses a little too much on the buff part of the game these days. They might need to take a look at what Belgium is doing.
Well thanks for reading on my first day back in the Just Plain Football world. Don't forget to eat your waffles......
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