Eden Hazard Risks More Euro Disappointment As Belgium Stutter

It is a frequently told tale that once seemed to say everything about Belgium’s wait to reach maturity, though today it is little more than an amusing anecdote. You know it already; the one about Eden Hazard ducking out of the Roi Baudouin to have a burger with his dad—after he was substituted in a Euro 2012 against Turkey in June 2011, and with the game still going on, as recalled by The Standard.

Much has changed since then, of course. Hazard has flourished into a bona-fide world star at Chelsea, and Belgium’s boys have become men, reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in the summer (and only exiting to eventual finalists Argentina). Yet something wasn’t quite right in Brazil, and it certainly isn’t right today.

Now, with Belgium a miserable fourth in their qualifying group for Euro 2016 after an uninspiring goalless draw with Wales on Sunday, the image of Hazard’s unscheduled snack has resurfaced, as Marc Wilmots’ team again struggle to find their range in attempting to reach a first European Championship since they co-hosted in 2000.

The current stutter is reminiscent of that qualifying campaign four years back, even if that unfolded under Wilmots’ predecessor Georges Leekens, to whom he was assistant. Back then, the promise of the new generation was clear but not quite enough to take Belgium to Poland and Ukraine.

It’s too early to hit the panic button just yet, of course, but there are warning signs that must be heeded. The starkest of those signs lies directly below Les Diables Rouges in the Group B table, where Bosnia-Herzegovina look almost spent on a mere two points (and two goals) from their opening four games. It is a mess that has pushed coach Safet Susic to the exit door, as reported by Yahoo.

Belgium aren’t in such dire straits, with three points more in the bank, having played a game less. They are too good to let themselves get into that sort of trouble, you might think. Many supporters of a Bosnian side who can count on Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic, to name but two, might have thought the same.

The current stodgy run of Wilmots’ team might be said to have a little more in common with a couple of Europe’s superpowers who have struggled to get going so far; world champions Germany and World Cup semi-finalists the Netherlands have both been slow out of the blocks.

Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press/Associated Press

Yet Belgium were far from fluent in Brazil, too. In their opener against Algeria, after going a goal down, they needed the sledgehammer presence of Marouane Fellaini to crack Les Fennecs’ resistance. Against a dominant Russia, a late goal by another substitute, Divock Origi, stole a win. In the last 16 against the US, Belgium were hanging on for dear life after Julian Green pulled a goal back.

The need to adopt drastic threads of change in-game in an attempt to flip the script suggests that many of Wilmots’ original plans aren’t working. There is much to recommend his work in charge of the national team—at 20 years Leekens’ junior, he certainly relates to the younger generation much better—but he again seemed to miss a trick tactically against Wales.

The decision to start with Origi, signed by Liverpool but still learning his trade with Lille (the club that launched him) on loan, was a debatable one, albeit perhaps informed by Christian Benteke’s current lack of sharpness. Potential match-winners such as Romelu Lukaku and Adnan Januzaj sat unused on the bench, as did the powerful Radja Nainggolan.

Realistically, Belgium should still reach the finals tournament in France. Yet the stellar football suggested by a mouthwatering squad just isn’t happening. In terms of their development as an international team, Hazard and company are still in the starting blocks.