Belgium Ready for Knockout Stage with Full Squad
SEATTLE – Belgium have spent most of this World Cup walking a tightrope between frustration and relief. Draws with Egypt and Iran, then a cathartic 5-1 demolition of New Zealand to snatch top spot in Group G. It has been stop-start, uneven, occasionally ragged.
Now, finally, they have something every contender craves in the knockout rounds: a clean bill of health.
“Before this game against Senegal, we are lucky to have everyone available, and that's a good thing because it was not the case for the first three games,” coach Garcia said on Tuesday in Seattle.
The message was clear. The excuses are gone. So are the safety nets.
For weeks, Belgium have been patching things together. Romelu Lukaku, the country’s record scorer, arrived at the tournament short of rhythm after a season at Napoli ruined by a stubborn hamstring injury. He played barely an hour of club football, but has already altered games from the bench here, a looming presence defenders can’t ignore even when he isn’t fully sharp.
Jeremy Doku disappeared from the team sheet for the second group match, not through injury but for the birth of his son in London. Charles De Ketelaere missed the 0-0 stalemate with Iran because of a knee issue. Every match seemed to come with a new asterisk, a new caveat.
That period, Garcia insists, has passed.
“Everyone was not 100 percent, unfortunately, or everyone was not completely fit. But this is over,” he said, sounding as much like a man drawing a line under a chapter as giving a medical update. “Jeremy, Romelu are getting better. Charles, I think that his problem is over as well.”
The mood around the squad has shifted with that news. Belgium may have topped the group, but they did it the hard way. The two opening draws raised familiar questions about their edge, their ability to turn control into goals when it matters. The five against New Zealand eased the tension, yet also came with an unspoken caveat: tougher tests are coming.
Garcia didn’t hide his mixed feelings.
“We wanted to end first in the group and this is what we did,” he said. “I wish we had won more games, all the games, but we're not going to go back in the past. What matters now is that we progressed out of the group stage.”
No one inside the camp needs reminding that the dynamic changes now. There is no room for another flat 0-0, no time to play themselves into form. Senegal, battle-hardened and athletic, will punish any lapse.
The players know it too. De Ketelaere, back fit and speaking with the calm of someone who has just watched the tournament tilt on its axis, pointed to Paraguay’s shock win over Germany on Monday as the loudest warning yet.
“I don't think it matters who is the favourite,” the Atalanta forward said. “It matters that we have confidence in ourselves and that we are sharp tomorrow to just go win this game, because yesterday showed us that to be favourites or not, it doesn't matter.
“We need to be alert and sharp to win the game.”
That result reverberated through every team hotel, Belgium’s included. It stripped away any illusion that pedigree or ranking will carry anyone through the next 90 minutes. One bad day, one sleepy start, and the flight home gets booked.
Belgium, at least, arrive at this stage with their key pieces finally aligned. Lukaku growing stronger. Doku back from a life-changing week. De Ketelaere declaring himself ready. A coach who no longer has to juggle absentees, only decisions.
Senegal await. The margin for error has vanished. Now we find out whether Belgium’s long, stuttering warm-up has built the resilience they’ll need when the tournament really bites.
