Belgium Faces Senegal in Knockout Stage with Full Squad
Belgium have spent much of this World Cup walking a tightrope between expectation and frustration. Draws with Egypt and Iran, then a five-goal demolition of New Zealand to snatch top spot in Group G. Stuttering, then suddenly ruthless.
Now comes the real test. Senegal in the knockouts, where one mistake can end a campaign. And for the first time, Rudi Garcia feels he has his full hand to play.
“Before this game against Senegal, we are lucky to have everyone available, and that's a good thing because it was not the case for the first three games,” the Belgium coach said on Tuesday in Seattle. The message was clear: the excuses are gone. “Everyone was not 100 percent, unfortunately, or everyone was not completely fit. But this is over.”
That line will echo around the Belgian camp. This is over. The niggles, the absences, the half-measures.
Belgium’s route here has been uneven. They opened with back-to-back draws, unable to break down Egypt, then held in a goalless stalemate by Iran. Anxiety grew, questions followed. Then came New Zealand and a 5-1 rout that felt like a release as much as a result, enough to secure first place in the group and a different mood entirely.
Romelu Lukaku embodies that shift. Belgium’s record scorer arrived with doubts swirling after playing barely an hour for Napoli this past season because of a persistent hamstring problem. He has not yet been the 90-minute spearhead of old, but off the bench he has changed games, dragged defenders around, reintroduced fear into back lines.
Jeremy Doku’s path has been different. He missed Belgium’s second match to attend the birth of his son in London, a joyful detour that briefly pulled him away from the tournament. Charles De Ketelaere also watched that 0-0 draw with Iran from the sidelines, nursing a knee concern that raised alarms given his importance to Atalanta and now to his country.
Now, the medical bulletins finally read the way Garcia wants them to.
“Jeremy, Romelu are getting better. Charles, I think that his problem is over as well,” the coach said, leaning into a renewed sense of optimism around a squad that suddenly feels whole again.
The group stage, with all its bumps and misfires, is filed away.
“We wanted to end first in the group and this is what we did,” Garcia said. “I wish we had won more games, all the games, but we're not going to go back in the past. What matters now is that we progressed out of the group stage.”
That is the pivot point. No more talk of dropped points. No more lamenting missed chances. From here, it is knockout football, stripped of safety nets.
Attention inevitably turns to Senegal, a side built on power, pace and a refusal to bow to reputations. Belgium know the margin for error has shrunk to nothing. One bad half, one lapse in concentration, and four years of planning can vanish.
Inside the camp, the shock of Paraguay’s win over Germany on Monday sharpened minds. If a giant like Germany can fall this early, nobody is safe.
Atalanta forward De Ketelaere, now back in the frame, did not hide the lesson.
“I don't think it matters who is the favourite,” he said. “It matters that we have confidence in ourselves and that we are sharp tomorrow to just go win this game, because yesterday showed us that to be favourites or not, it doesn't matter.
“We need to be alert and sharp to win the game.”
That is the standard now. Not just talent, which Belgium have in abundance, but edge. Alert and sharp, as De Ketelaere put it. Fit and fearless, as Garcia wants it.
For a golden generation that has heard every accusation of underachievement, this World Cup has already tested their nerve. Now, with the squad finally intact and the stakes finally absolute, they walk into a knockout tie that will say far more about who they are than any group game ever could.
