The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Belgium

  • Fellaini announces international retirement

    Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini announced his retirement from international football on Friday, ending a 12-year career with the national team.

    The 31-year-old scored 18 goals in 87 appearances for Belgium and represented them at two FIFA World Cups, helping them finish third in Russia last year.

    “After 12 years of representing Belgium at the highest level, I have decided to retire from senior international football,” Fellaini said in a statement on Twitter.

    Read Also: Fellaini refuses to rule out move to China

    “I feel the time is right for me to step down and allow the next generation of players to continue this very successful period in Belgian football history.

    “I have many amazing memories… and I am very proud Belgium is currently number one in the FIFA rankings.”

    Fellaini joined Chinese Super League (CSL) side Shandong Luneng in February, ending a five-and-a-half year spell at English Premier League (EPL) side Manchester United.

    He scored the winning goal on his CSL debut against Beijing Renhe this month.

    NAN

  • FIFA Ranking: Nigeria move up by Four spots placed 44th

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles have moved up by four spots to the 44th in the world in the October FIFA -Coca Cola Ranking.

    In the ranking table published on the website of the world football governing body on Thursday, Nigeria garnered 1431 points as against 1415 it had in September.

    The movement has now placed Nigeria as the third in Africa behind Tunisia and Senegal.

    The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that it was during this period that the Eagles thrashed Libya 4-0 (home) and 3-2 (away) in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

    Read Also: FIFA rankings: Nigeria moves 5 places up

    Tunisia is ranked 22nd in the world and Senegal 25th. Congo DR (ranked 46th and Morocco(47th) are the other African countries among the top 50.

    On the global scene, Belgium are now ranked world number one, ahead of France with the narrowest of margin–just one point in the new the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking published today. The Belgians have 1733 points to France’s 1732 points.

    In September, the two countries were tied on the first spot.

    The top two remain out in front after a month in which each of them enjoyed a win and a draw, with Belgium and France beating Switzerland (8th, unchanged) and Germany (14th, down two) respectively in the UEFA Nations League. Brazil is third with 1669 points, Croatia fourth with 1635 and England fifth with 1619 points. Leo Messi’s Argentina are ranked 12th in the world.

  • Belgium defender, Vermaelen, suffers fresh injury

    Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen has suffered another injury and will be out of action for several weeks after straining an adductor muscle on international duty.

    The 32-year-old would miss Tuesday’s friendly against the Netherlands in Brussels, Belgian FA officials said in a media advisory on Monday.

    Read Also: Africa and the Nobel prize

    Vermaelen was taken off after 73 minutes of Belgium’s 2-1 win over Switzerland in the Nations League on Friday.

    The Barcelona defender has been hit by a succession of injuries since signing for Barcelona in 2014.

  • Nigeria now 48th in FIFA World ranking

    Belgium, France joint leaders

    Nigeria moved one place from 49th position to 48th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking as Belgium and France share the top spot for the first time in the table’s 25-year history.

    According to the rankings posted on the FIFA official website on Thursday, the Super Eagles amassed 1415 points to finish 48th in the month of September.

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles who defeated Seychelles 3-0 on Sept. 8 to put themselves back in contention for a place at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) improved their position from seventh to the fourth best team in Africa.

    Seychelles dropped one spot from 188th to 189th in the rankings, while Libya, whom Nigeria face in their next group game of the AFCON qualifier next month are placed 99th in the rankings.

    Read Also: NFF Elections, its implication on football future in Nigeria

    Senegal still maintains their number one spot in Africa and 25th in the world with 1492 points.

    DR Congo and Morocco are second and third in Africa, and 40th and 45th in the world with 1447 and 1425 points respectively.

    Russia, 2018 semi-finalists Belgium and reigning World Champions, France are joint leaders in the rankings, the first time the top spot is being shared in the table’s 25-year history.

    Brazil, Croatia and Uruguay round up the top five.

    While England, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Denmark are sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th respectively.

    The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on Oct. 25

  • Fraser doubtful for Leicester clash with hamstring injury

    Bournemouth midfielder Ryan Fraser is a doubt for Saturday’s English Premier League clash against Leicester City after sustaining a hamstring injury on international duty with Scotland, manager Eddie Howe said on Friday.

    Fraser played the full 90 minutes of Scotland’s 4-0 defeat by World Cup semi-finalists Belgium in a friendly at Hampden Park last weekend before returning with the injury.

    “Ryan had a hamstring problem so has been working with our medical team since he returned here,” Howe told reporters.

    Read Also: EPL Results: Man City, Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea win matches

    The 32-year-old has started all four matches for Bournemouth this season and scored in the 2-0 victory over promoted Cardiff City in their league opener.

    Howe said defender Charlie Daniels was another injury concern, having picked up a niggle in the international break but was happy to welcome midfielder Junior Stanislas back from a knee problem.

    “Junior is working his way back to fitness. A big positive was that he came back into training during the international break. He won’t be ready for this weekend but we’re pleased with his progress,” Howe added.

    Bournemouth is sixth in the standings with seven points from four matches.

  • Belgium are Bronze Medalist @ World Cup, Beat England 2-0

    • FT: Belgium 2-0 England
    • Hazard added second (82)
    • Meunier scored early (4)
    • Bronze m

    Belgium finished as bronze medalist at the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Saturday.

    They defeated England 2-0 in the third place match played at Saint Petersburg Stadium at the front of a 64, 406 spectators.

    Belgium side began on a serious minded note as Meunier opens the scoring as early as the 4th minute.

    They sealed the third place spot with a second goal at 82nd minute by Hazard as they trailed tackles with England national team.

    Recall that Belgium had defeated England in the group stage in the tournament

    TEAM NEWS

    Belgium: Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen, Meunier, Witsel, De Bruyne, Tielemans, Chadli, Lukaku, Hazard.

    Subs: Vermaelen, Fellaini, Carrasco, Mignolet, Casteels, Mertens, Hazard, Januzaj, Dembele, Boyata, Batshuayi, Dendoncker.

    England: Pickford, Jones, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Dier, Delph, Rose, Loftus-Cheek, Sterling, Kane.

    Subs: Walker, Lingard, Henderson, Vardy, Butland, Welbeck, Cahill, Young, Rashford, Alli, Alexander-Arnold, Pope.

     

    PREVIOUS MEETING…

    Have two sides ever met twice at the same World Cup with so little at stake in either game?

    When they clashed in the group stages, England made eight changes and Belgium made nine, for a game that neither seemed too keen to win for fear of ending up on the “harder” half of the draw.

    It was Belgium who ended up edging the contest and finishing top of Group G after Adnan Januzaj’s brilliant strike in the 51st minute.

     

    OPTA STAT

    England’s defeat to Croatia in their last match was their 100th competitive defeat – each of their last six competitive losses have been at major tournaments (five at the World Cup, one at the European Championships).

    Harry Kane has had just one shot on target in his last three World Cup matches – his penalty goal against Colombia in the last 16. Kane has not had a shot on target in his last four hours and 33 minutes of action at the World Cup.

  • Southgate to ring few changes for Belgium

    England manager Gareth Southgate says he hopes to make “as few changes as possible” for tonight’s World Cup third-place playoff against Belgium.

    Southgate says his selection will be based primarily on the fitness of individual players suggesting he will resist the temptation to give some fringe players a run-out.

    All 23 players in Southgate’s squad trained on Friday at the team’s Repino base.

    “We’ve set the standard of how we work, the standard of how we play, and we want to maintain those standards right to the end. The players did that this morning in training,” Southgate said.

    “We have to decide who can go again physically. Everyone wants to play. Everyone trained this morning. Sometimes it’s not always a good decision to play if people’s energy isn’t quite there.

    “It won’t be exactly the same starting eleven, but we want ideally to make a few changes as possible.”

    “(There are) one or two injuries, one or two with a bit of illness. But we have high motivation to perform and finish with a medal at a World Cup, which only one English team have ever done. We’d like to redress having lost to Belgium once before already, too,” he added.

    England lost 1-2 to Croatia after extra time in their semi-final game on Wednesday and Southgate said it had been a tough loss to process.

    “In terms of mentality, it’s obviously been a really difficult couple of days for us. We were 20 minutes from a World Cup final and then, in extra time, 10 minutes from a shootout to get to a World Cup final. The reason for us being here was to achieve that big goal.

    “We got back to St Petersburg at 6.30am on the day after the game, so it has been an emotion-fueled few days. But the players are incredible. They’re a pleasure to work with. Their energy this morning and desire to finish the tournament well, we owe it as much to ourselves as to our nation to finish well,” added the England manager.

  • France dominate Belgium to advance to Russia 2018 final match

    France smoothly dominated Belgium on Tuesday in St Petersburg for a commanding 1-0 win to advance to Sunday’s final match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

    It was a match of high expectations, judging from both sides’ run-up to the semi-finals and the quality of their players.

    But the 64,286 crowd did not have much to cheer once France took charge, as Belgium’s much-touted high-scoring forwardline were kept in check.

    And it was even a sign of the fact that the France backline had not much to worry about when Samuel Umtiti outjumped Marouane Fellaini in the 51stminute to score.

    The game’s opening moments were unexpectedly dull, with both sides showing some cautiousness, limiting the goalkeepers to just a few loose balls to pick up.

    But then, solid defending by Vincent Kompany, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen for Belgium, and France’s Benjamin Pavard, Raphael Varane, Umtiti and Lucas Hernandez also helped to keep the game goalless.

    However, the French’s adventurous efforts upfront yielded some results when Olivier Giroud’s shot on the turn was blocked for a corner kick by Kompany, and Umtiti scored from Antoine Griezmann’s effort.

    With Ngolo Kante, Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi and Kylian Mbappe holding the advantage ikn the middle, Belgium had no chance to initiate good offensive moves.

    Romelu Lukaku failed to find his range in spite of good efforts by Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne and Fellaini, while Moussa Dembele, Nacer Chadli and Axel Witsel just ran around.

    Dries Mertens’ entry in the 60th minute did bolstered the Belgian attack, with Fellaini’s header missing target by inches in the 65th minute, but by then the game was already won.

    It only wore on to a dull end, with both sides chalking up yellow cards, three for Belgium and two for France who even looked to be doubling their lead.

    France will now head to Moscow to meet on Sunday the winners of Wednesday’s other semi-final pairing, between England and Croatia.

    Belgium on the other hand will stay back in St Petersburg to face Wednesday’s match losers in the third-place match on Saturday.(NAN)

  • Umtiti Sends FRANCE into FINAL

    France on Tuesday reached  World Cup final after beating Belgium 1-0 in Saint Petersburg.

    France will play either England or Croatia in Sunday’s final.

    • France 1-0 Belgium (FULL TIME)
    • Umtiti heads in from corner (51)
    • France into World Cup final
    • They face England or Croatia
    • Second semi-final on Wednesday

    PLAYER RATINGS

    France: Lloris (8), Pavard (6), Varane (8), Umtiti (8), Hernandez (6), Pogba (8), Kante (7), Matuidi (7), Mbappe (7), Griezmann (7), Giroud (6).

    Subs: N’Zonzi (5), Tolisso (5).

    Belgium: Courtois (7), Alderweireld (6), Kompany (6), Vertonghen (6), Chadli (5), Fellaini (5), Witsel (5), Dembele (5), De Bruyne (6), Hazard (7), Lukaku (5).

    Subs: Mertens (6), Carrasco (5), Batshuayi (NA)

    PREVIEW

    France and Belgium meet for the 74th time tonight. None of their previous 73 meetings have meant as much for the neighbouring nations as this. A place in the World Cup final is up for grabs.

    BELGIUM TEAM NEWS

    Team to play France: Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen, Chadli, Fellaini, Dembele, Witsel, De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku

    Subs: Mignolet, Casteels, Vermaelen, Boyata, Dendoncker, Tielemans, T. Hazard, Carrasco, Mertens, Januzaj, Batshuayi

    FRANCE TEAM NEWS

    Team to play Belgium: Lloris, Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, L. Hernandez, Pogba, Kante, Matuidi, Mbappe, Giroud, Griezmann

    Subs: Kimpembe, Lemar, Dembele, Tolisso, Nzonzi, Mandanda, Rami, Fekir, Sidibe, Thauvin, Mendy, Areola

    DEMBELE STARTS

    Just the one change for Belgium but it’s an interesting one.

    Full-back Meunier is suspended so Tottenham midfielder Dembele comes in to start on the right of a 3-4-3.

    Will have to see how exactly Belgium line-up but otherwise they are unchanged from their quarter-final win over Brazil.

  • Red Devils on rampage

    The Red Devils of Belgium looks poised for their first ever World Cup final berth in history when they meet Former Champions, Les Blues of France in the 1st Semifinal of the mundial at the 65,000 seated, St. Petersburg Stadium in Russia Tuesday at 1900 hours West African Time. On paper, the Belgians even look good as World Champions already.

    The stadium itself is a show of modernity designed by Japanese Architect, Kisho Kurosawa in the shape of space shift with retractable roof and a sliding pitch meant to keep the turf at 15*c. Surely you must have seen players gliding gleefully on the turf, which is a spectacular sight.

    Contrary to speculations of football permutations who are giving the match to France with 38% votes, those who think penalties will decide the match at 29% or those who think Belgium will coast easily to the finals 33% did, current performance gives it to Belgium.

    Records before now states that they have met a whopping 74 times with W24 to France, W30 to Belgium and D19, that record is like considering the Old Black Stars of Ghana whipping The Green Eagles now Super Eagles of Nigeria. Different story now.

    Both have played 5 games in this tournament where Belgians are the highest scorers with 14 goals to France haul of 9 goals. Belgium conceded 5 goals while France let in 4 but when you look at the goals difference of each country, the +9 of Belgium is the total that France scored but when you consider the 4 goals France conceded, there is an imbalance. Goals win matches and if Belgium come smoking, Les Blues are Goners. Bet.

    Read Also: Les Blues at exit door?

    The News Agency of Nigeria went to town asking how Nigerian fans who love Thierry Henri called Igwe, meaning King, for his penchant for goals while at Arsenal F.C., but now Assistant Coach for Belgium feel sitting on Belgian bench. They were all at sea, confused like an Egba man who was elected to lead Kiriji war against his Egba kinsmen by a foster Igbajo people.

    Oliver Giroud who cross-carpeted from Arsenal to Chelsea and the oldest player for France at 31 said “I know Thierry would have loved to be coach of France and we will get him back”. The Nigerian fans made two requests, that Belgium allow Thierry to go seat elsewhere and that FIFA cameras would spare him showing emotions.
    Thomas Meunier will be off for France because he bagged the second yellow in the quarters but Blaise Matuidi will be back. It will be interesting to watch Belgian captain, Eden Hazard face the hard tackles of his Chelsea team mate, Ngolo Kante. Oliver Giroud also of Chelsea however thinks much more of his international team mate, and France Captain, Goal Keeper Hugo Lioris as being better than his Chelsea mate and Belgium goal tender, Thibaut Courtehu. Thinking of penalty shoot outs?

    Uruguayans will officiate the Belgium-France match. Centre Referee is Andre Cunhe; the two astant Refs who are his country men are Nicolas Taran and Manricio Espinosa. The 4th and 5th Refs are Cesar Arturo Ramos and Marvin Torrendera both from Mexico.

    It is expected that the match will not go to the wire. France spanked Belgium 3-1 in the 1st round in 1938 and shoved same Belgium 4-2 at the Bronze medal battle of 1988. This is Belgium’s 2nd world cup semi. They lost to eventual winners Argentina in 1986.

    Fireworks are expected from the two sides who have gotten the experience of the quarry site in this tournament, What do you think of a France that played goalless with Denmark; dismissed Argentina with their megastars of Messi, Di Maria, Aguero, Mascherano etc 3-2 at the round of 16 and pecked Uruguay 2-0 in the quarters.
    Belgium caged the aristocratic Three Lions of England 1-0; dismissed the stubborn Japanese 3-2 and shoved off the prolific Samba boys of Brazil who believe the world cup is their birth right 2-1 in a breathtaking encounter.

    The attackers of Belgium are as dangerous as rattle snakes. Belgium kept injuring all opponents through set pieces especially corner kicks. Fellaini leads six other tall players in the Belgian squad. Most of the goals are through powerful headers. Hazard is terribly hazardous when on duty. Belgium needs an antidote for the lethal shots of Griezmann of France.

    The two teams know what is at stake. Belgium knows this kind of opportunity comes perhaps once in a life time. The team is a bunch of relatively young folks. Lukaku has been a star from age 16 and has 4 goals behind Harry Kane of England but the third goal scored against Japan that came through an Eden Hazard pass he jumped over for Chadu to slam in in 90+4 minute.

    France is regarded as an African team because they have 8 blacks or Africans in the team who got their citizenship. France plays physical football like Africa. I suspect that the team that will go out is the team that commits error.