A report by the British newspaper "The Athletic" revealed hidden aspects of the crisis that afflicted the Belgium national team, and caused the team's lackluster appearance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which precipitated its early departure from the competition.
And the "Red Devils" came out of the first round of the World Cup after a victory over Canada, a defeat against Morocco and a draw with Croatia, in a performance that contradicted the expectations of the country's fans, who were looking forward to a better achievement than the third place achieved by Belgium in the World Cup Russia 2018.
The newspaper stated that the reasons for leaving exceeded what is spherical and athletic, and are mainly due to deep differences, the features of which appeared from the first day of the arrival of the national team’s stars to their residence in Qatar, and others whose first indications appeared several months ago, but they exploded in the face of everyone during the competitions and after the exclusion. sudden.
Language crisis
Many saw the language barrier as a persistent problem in Belgian football, creating a divide between those who speak the Flemish language in the north of the country, such as Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Kevin De Bruyne, and those whose native language is French, such as Axal Witsel and Eden Hazard.
And the coach of the Belgian national team, Roberto Martinez, decided that the team's common language would be English after he saw that some players - such as Thibaut Courtois, Vincent Kompany and Romelu Lukaku - hesitated in using languages, and often resorted to English when they spoke within a group.
Belgium coach Roberto Martinez (Getty Images)
This decision was certainly appropriate for the coach, given that he is a Spaniard from Catalonia who speaks English fluently, but not French or Flemish, and the players welcomed him, and this decision created a sense of equality and unity in a national team that had been suffering divisions for decades.
For a long time in the Martinez era, the feeling of loneliness took hold, and despite the strained relations between the team members, the collective spirit in the 2018 World Cup brought Belgium to the semi-finals for only the second time in their history.
Gradually, however, some players found themselves returning to using their mother tongue in training camps.
Unsuccessful preparations
The fading of the common language was not the reason for Belgium's decline in the World Cup this year, but rather one of its manifestations. On the other hand, with regard to choosing their training camp in Qatar, Martinez and his staff preferred to be more remote, and chose a residence and training 150 kilometers away in Salwa. on the southwestern coast of Qatar, while the vast majority of the 32 competing teams are based around 25 kilometers from Doha.
The report indicated that although they stayed in a secluded luxury hotel next to the beach, some of the senior players felt resentful, as they felt isolated and separated from their fans and families who had come to support them.
Ahead of the tournament, a "family day" was scheduled the day after facing Morocco and families were invited out from Doha to Salwa Beach for a barbecue, an arrangement the players enjoyed and welcomed at the previous World Cup in Russia 4 years ago.
However, family members found the atmosphere uncomfortable, and there were disputes and accusations in the dressing room, according to Kat Kerkhovs, the wife of striker Dries Mertens. "Although everyone thought that the relationship between the players was very nice, the barbecue was very confusing." .
The newspaper's sources indicate that "confusion" has existed since the moment the Belgian national team players arrived in Qatar.
There was frustration with the Belgian FA over the arrangements and with coach Martinez about how they managed the period when they were not playing matches.
Martinez initially took a more lenient approach than his predecessor, Marc Wilmots, but his arrangements became stricter over time.
The report pointed out that some players believe that given the size of the hotel on Salwa Beach, their families could easily have been allowed to stay on the other side of the resort, even if there were rules about when they could or could not see them.
But Martinez wanted clear dividing lines, and even the interaction between the players and the BFA staff seemed frustrating.
Hazard is another problem
And the newspaper quoted - according to sources close to the dressing room - that Martinez received harsh criticism for showing a lot of loyalty to Hazard, who not only failed to score a goal or an assist in the World Cup this year, but the basic data for his performance was also very low;
As Hazard only made 5 successful dribbles during his three matches in Qatar.
The decline in Hazard's performance is well known, after he suffered a series of injuries since joining Real Madrid in 2019. Despite the player's previous skill, he is now not doing enough, according to some players who believe that Leandro Trossard or Jeremy Doku should have started instead of him in front of him. Morocco.
As for Lukaku, there was more sympathy for him because he missed two months of the season with Inter Milan due to a hamstring injury, and there was a possibility of his absence from the World Cup, after a recurrence of that problem in early November.
Frank words from De Bruyne
The report also touched on the situation of player Kevin De Bruyne. At the time of writing, De Bruyne has not spoken publicly or posted a word on social media since sharing some photos with his wife and children when they spent a brief moment together in the stands after the victory over Canada;
"Nothing is more important," said the Manchester City midfielder.
Heartbreak De Bruyne after leaving the World Cup (Reuters)
The report indicated that during the preparation for the match against Morocco, the Guardian newspaper published an interview with De Bruyne before leaving the World Cup. And he saw that their great opportunity came and went 4 years ago, saying, "We have a good team, but it is getting old, we have lost some key players, and we have some good new players coming, but they are not at the same level as other players who were in 2018."
In just a few words, De Bruyne seemed to have underestimated some of his older teammates - the likes of Vertonghen, 35, and Alderweireld Witsel, 33 - and saw the "good" younger players - the likes of Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans, Leandro Trossard, Charles de Kittelary and Doku. And Openeda - they weren't good enough to fill the gap, which many outside the team would agree with.
But it was bad for him to say about his teammates that they are old players.
Accusations are exchanged
The report conveyed information about De Bruyne's dissatisfaction with the way his comments were interpreted, and made it clear that he believed that they were taken out of context, and that they certainly did not help improve relations within the camp, which was already a bad camp.
For his part, Vertonghen referred - indirectly but strongly - to De Bruyne's interview after the Morocco match, when he said that Belgium might have lost because "their attack was too old."
And last Tuesday, the French newspaper "L'Equipe" published details of a major dispute between De Bruyne and Vertonghen, which required Lukaku to intervene to end it.
Although several sources told the British newspaper that the dispute was less than what was portrayed, but it is certain that there was at least a very frank verbal exchange between the players, and that Lukaku really had to intervene, and there was also a brief discussion between Vertonghen and Hazard, although It was said that Hazard managed to appease the defender.
A crisis meeting between the players followed - even if Timothy Castagne disagreed with that description - as the Leicester City fullback said: "I think it was very important for us to have this meeting, but it was not a 'crisis meeting' as I have heard from some quarters. It was from The important thing is to express our hearts and share our points of view, but this did not get out of hand."
Splits and leaks of information
For his part, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois - in a press conference - expressed his anger that someone within the team had leaked "false information" to the media, a recurring problem with Belgium over the years.
In a previous statement, former Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan, who was one of the most outspoken figures in the team, said that Belgium suffers from having too many individual personalities, and that was before Martinez took him out of the team before the 2018 World Cup.
Nainggolan told the Times in 2018, "Everyone wants to be important; Hazard wants to be important, and so does De Bruyne and Lukaku, so it's hard to put it all together, because every player wants to show off his skills, and that makes learning The hardest thing."