Belgian squad announced for England and Montenegro friendlies

After the weekend madness, in which Georges Leekens left the managerial post for Club Brugge and gave the Belgian FA a mighty headache, Marc Wilmots has selected the squad for the Montenegro and England friendlies.

The assistant manager will step up to the role, in a strangely similar way to Stuart Pearce did for England this year, for these two fixtures and could be appointed on a permanent basis.

The team selection isn’t exactly surprising but once again, Belgium’s obvious lack of full-backs is apparent. Here is the squad list.

Goalkeepers	Thibaut Courtois	Atletico Madrid (Spa)
	Jean-Francois Gillet	Bologna (Italy)
	Simon Mignolet	Sunderland (Eng)
Defence	Toby Alderweireld	Ajax (Ned)
	Vincent Kompany	Manchester City (Eng)
	Nicolas Lombaerts	Zenit (Russia)
	Denis Odoi	Anderlecht
	Daniel Van Buyten	Bayern Munich (Ger)
	Thomas Vermaelen	Arsenal (Eng)
	Jan Vertonghen	Ajax (Ned)
Midfield	Nacer Chadli	Twente (Ned)
	Steven Defour	Porto (Por)
	Moussa Dembele	Fulham (Eng)
	Marouane Fellaini	Everton (Eng)
	Guillaume Gillet	Anderlecht
	Eden Hazard	Lille (Fra)
	Dries Mertens	PSV Eindhoven (Ned)
	Radja Nainggolan	Cagliari (Italy)
	Timmy Simons	Nuremberg (Ger)
	Axel Witsel	Benfica (Por)
Attack	Christian Benteke	Racing Genk
	Igor De Camargo	Mönchengladbach (Germany)
	Benjamin De Ceulaer	Lokeren
	Romelu Lukaku	Chelsea (Eng)
	Kevin Mirallas	Olympiakos (Gre)
	Jelle Vossen	Racing Genk

All in all, a very strong lineup bar the aforementioned defensive issues. I’d expect Wilmots to go experimental vs Montenegro (mainly giving strikers a chance) before playing the strongest lineup possible against England

The team I’d play against England – Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vermaelen, Lombaerts/Vertonghen, Fellaini, Witsel, Defour, Dembele, Hazard, Vossen/Benteke.

I’d really like see Mirallas and Benteke given a shot – both playing very well at the moment. Denis Odoi is a surprise slightly, but he played well filling in for Wasilewski at Anderlecht and really is the only right-back available.

Laurent Ciman, Maarten Martens and Kevin De Bruyne all drop out from the Greece selection due to injuries. But that’s an exceptional squad – especially in midfield, a wonderful headache to have. Will Wilmots be given the job full-time after these games? If he gets the team performing well, then why not…

 

Tagged Alderweireld, Belgium, Courtois, Defour, Dembele, England, Fellaini, football, Hazard, international, kompany, Lombaerts/Vertonghen, Marc Wilmots, Roy Hodgson, Vermaelen, Vossen/Benteke., Witsel