There’s been plenty of speculation about trouble and in-fighting in Belgium’s World Cup squad as they suffered a hugely disappointing early exit from the competition.
Despite boasting some top talents like Kevin De Bruyne, Youri Tielemans, Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Leandro Trossard and Thibaut Courtois, Roberto Martinez’s side failed to get out of their group, and have now surely missed their last chance for this golden generation to win a major international trophy.
It seems there was some trouble within the Belgium camp, with Fabrizio Romano confirming in today’s exclusive CaughtOffside column the Daily Briefing that things were “tense” at times, though he also added that this is fairly normal when teams under-achieve.
“There’s been a lot said about in-fighting in the Belgian World Cup squad, but it’s quite normal to hear these things when a team under-performs,” Romano said.
“Honestly I’ve no idea if it’s true that they took early flights back from Qatar… all people close to Belgium players deny those stories but I’m not following their national team closely so I’m not sure about flights or similar.
“For sure the situation around the squad was tense in some moments this month, but I think it’s absolutely normal and common in football when you don’t get results you want.”
It’s certainly a shame Belgium couldn’t do more with the talent they’ve got, but it will be interesting to see if they can bring through more talented young players in the years to come to help them challenge again.
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