Belgium ranks No. 1 in the FIFA world ranking and has so far missed the World Football Championship World Football 2022. Can it win the championship trophy?

Belgium has a solid place in the European World Cup zone . At the same time, according to the ranking released by FIFA, the Belgian men's football team ranked first in the world for four consecutive years, while Brazil, France and England ranked second, third and fourth. Belgium is known as the European Red Devils. The Belgian national team with such a strong strength has not won a World Cup so far. The best result in the last World Football Championship was also the third place, and the European Cup has not won the championship. So can the World Cup win in 2022 ?

The following is a brief introduction to the strength of the Belgian World Football Team.

 【Extended reading】
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Article directory

• Belgium ranks No. 1 in the FIFA World Ranking
• Belgium revives 2014 World Cup success under Wilmots
• Martinez leads Belgium to the top of 2018 World Cup third place
• The Belgian national team's lack of centripetal force is a fatal obstacle to winning the World Cup 2022

Belgium ranks No. 1 in the FIFA World Ranking

The Belgian men's football team is not just vain. The team ranked No. 1, according to the FIFA World Cup points rules, but also played in Belgium one game after another. Because Belgium played relatively stable, unlike some teams that were upset due to their unstable strength, they basically maintained a record of complete victories in the qualifiers. Such results can be said to be very stable.

The Belgian men's football team achieved glory as early as the 1970s and 1980s. The 1972 European Cup third place, the 1980 European Cup runner-up, the 1986 World Cup reached the semi-finals and won the fourth place.

Belgium revives 2014 World Cup success under Wilmots

But after being eliminated by eventual champions Brazil in the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals between South Korea and Japan due to a misjudgment of a goal by Wilmots, the Belgian national men's football team began to decline, and successive consecutive After missing the 2004 European Cup, the 2006 World Cup, the 2008 European Cup, the 2010 World Cup, and the 2012 European Cup five world competitions, the 2014 World Cup has ushered in a new development stage of strength recovery. The head coach at this time was Wilmotz, a former international football player born in 1969.

Martinez leads Belgium to the top of 2018 World Cup third place

Spain coach Martinez replaced Wilmotz as head coach after Wilmots faced overly pessimistic remarks in the media during Euro 2016. Under the leadership of Martinez, and a group of stars such as Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard, Courtois, etc., the European Red Devils have regained their vitality. Belgium 10 in the 2018 World Cup European qualifying period With 9 wins and 1 draw, the record was brilliant, and finally reached the semi-finals, defeated England, and won the third place.

The Belgian national team's lack of centripetal force is a fatal obstacle to winning the World Cup 2022

But the Belgian team also has its own shortcomings, even fatal. Hazard, the core midfielder and soul of Real Madrid who joined Real Madrid in 2019, has suffered from constant injuries, and his state is not as good as before. What's more terrible is that Belgium's internal centripetal force is insufficient, internal strife is constant, coupled with historical reasons and language and cultural differences, the south of Belgium is the French-speaking Wallonia region, and the north is the Dutch-speaking Flemish region. Due to language barriers and different cultures, people from the two regions basically do not communicate very much, and the estrangement is very serious. The representative of the French-speaking players is Hazard, and the leader of the Dutch-speaking players is De Bruyne, resulting in the Belgian national team players being divided into two factions. Courtois once had an affair with De Bruyne's girlfriend, De Bruyne's teammate Januzaj, and Courtois fought with the coach. These are the "representatives" of the Belgian team's infighting. In addition, although Belgium's performance is relatively stable in normal times, when it comes to a critical moment like the final, it is easy to lose the chain when it encounters a world-leading team. Under such circumstances, it is more difficult to win the championship.

Therefore, it is unlikely that Belgium will win the World Cup in 2022. Of course, football also depends on luck. If other strong teams are upset and eliminated, it may give Belgium a good chance. But, such an opportunity is really rare.