The FIFA World Cup 2022 and the Future of Belgium:

Belgium may see the last World Cup of the so-called golden generation in Qatar. The reason is very simple: key names like De Bruyne, Lukaku, and Eden Hazard are aging. They’ll be 35 on average in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It’s fair to say they’ll be past their prime by that time.

The pressure of being the Golden Generation

This Belgian generation is unlikely any other. Some selections like Portugal in 2016 were built around one talent, Cristiano Ronaldo. Belgium had a very balanced team with decent talent at all positions and sectors of the team for a while now.

The Lukaku brothers, Meunier, Alderweireld, and Courtois, there are so many names beyond the 3 stars mentioned earlier in this article.

But this ‘blessing’ came with a curse: expectations were like never before. It’s interesting to note that players that enjoyed so much success at the club level failed to lift a trophy or reach many finals. When you wear the colors of your nation, it feels different. But in the Belgian case, this was a negative factor.

The last chance: a positive factor?

This World Cup will be ‘the tournament of the lasts’. Most certainly the last one for Cristiano Ronaldo, possibly the last one for Messi, and most certainly the last one for the golden generation of Belgium at their prime!

There’s a chance this will become a positive factor for the Belgian side. Their odds, however, reflect this poor performance: out of the 32 teams in the World Cup, Belgium is only the 9th most likely to win the competition according to the betting markets right now.
Their odds are on average 17.58. It could be a value bet, maybe an opportunity to hedge during the tournament. If you don’t know what these concepts mean, value and hedge, we’ll have fresh betting guides for you very soon over here.

Belgium World Cup Group F Analysis

Belgium shouldn’t have problems to qualify for the playoff phase once more! Together with Croatia, they are clearly the favorites to reach the round of 16.

Morocco and Canada may be improving, and know they even have strong names like Hakimi and Davies, but they still need to develop a lot more to start a tournament like the World Cup as favorites.

Belgium – Canada: Betting Analysis

The European side will play their first game against Canada. They are the favorites, naturally, with odds of 1.29 to win the game. That means a £100 bet could become a prize of 129 pounds, with relatively low risk.

The odds for the draw and victory of the Canadians are 5.64 and 11.15 respectively, which reflect the preference of the markets for the Belgian side.

Summary
Belgium shouldn’t have problems to go far in the competition, but whether the team of De Bruyne, Lukaku, Courtois, and the Hazard brothers will be able to bring home a trophy it’s another question.

We’ll keep an eye on the Belgian odds before and during the World Cup, keep an eye on our home page!