New England FIFA rankings

doesn't sound that world class to me, if you're comparing him to ashley young!

 

if Ashley Young is becoming more important to England than Rooney then I certainly don't Rooney is world class!

 

I just want to clarify that I never said Rooney was better than Messi, because he clearly isn't! He's not even close to being close etc. My original point was that he is better than Alexis Sanchez (not to say Chile are bad, I just think they're worse than England - although some people would deem that bad! ), which I believe he is. I also believe he is a world class player, and should of course be in the national team. And I do think Rooney had a good game yesterday, even if it was against Cluj.

I think someone (wonky?) raised the point that Belgium are developing a good team, which I definitely agree with! They've got (from the top of my head) Mignolet, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Van Buyten (though I don't think he plays much anymore), Fellaini, Lamah, Lukaku and Hazard to name but a few! Very handy team indeed, and if they don't qualify for the next World Cup something is not right.

 

Yeah it was me, you missed Vincent Kompany and Moussa Dembele off that list

Axel Witsel is also a brilliant player who is Belgian, they also have Courtois (who will be a brilliant keeper) and De Bruyne coming through, both look as though they'll have bright bright futures. Kevin Mirallas isn't bad either, but I think they're problem lies is they don't have a good enough out and out striker. Obviously I think Lukaku will fill that role but not sure he is ready to lead that line yet.

 

belgium's issue will be just as england's was a little over a decade or so ago: how do you make these excellent individual talents play as a team. england had similar talent come through the ranks, the so-called golden generation, but they were never a collective, always played as individuals, so you got the occasional game of brilliance such as germany away (5-1) and croatia in euro 2004 (4-2) and again (5-1) in qualifying, but those performances were few and far between. i suspect belgium will have similar issues. we shall see...

 

Can't say I've heard a lot about Courtois, but I can't actually believe I forgot the other four! They're quite a fine side indeed. Like you say, Lukaku will turn into quite a player, but I think he may be up to the job even now! He got plenty of games at Anderlecht, but it's just a pity he got frozen out by Chelsea. Hopefully West Brom will sharpen him up again, it'd be great to see Belgium do well.

 

Could be right, but I think a fair few of them playing for Chelsea helps Belgium out quite a bit. They've got 5 (If Thorgan Hazard is included) of the promising players on their books so can only be a good thing for Belgium, also most of their players are playing in the same league as well. I know what you mean though, if the management get it right and manage to play collectively they will be a force.

 

courtois is the chelsea keeper who has been on loan at atletico madrid for a couple of years. they've got very big hopes for him and you can see why

 

thorgen hazard is not a good player - i have literally no idea how he keeps getting bandied about as one. chelsea signed him to keep his brother happy

EDIT* that was a bit harsh - i meant he's not going to be good enough for chelsea. he'd probably be good enough for a championship club. he's not terrible but he does not possess the same kinds of qualities his older brother does.

 

Belgium have got their golden generation coming up, i reckon in the next few years they will get to a world cup semi or win the euros. I would give my right arm to have some of those players in the england squad.

 

Thanks for the heads up, he sounds very promising. I'll keep more of an eye out for him from now on.

 

well most of the england team were at man utd and chelsea, doesn't equate like that unfortunately.

 

To be fair, I'd not ever seen him play before, I just know he is playing for the Belgium youth levels. I am not contesting what you say at all, it doesn't surprise me. Hence why I mentioned it in brackets as I'd not seen him play ever.

Also agree with you Guru, think they could win a European Championship, if as supers says they play collectively.

 

i've edited my post about him - i was a bit harsh!

 

Different to English players though, there is the whole Liverpool/United/Chelsea divide and because they're English players they have stronger allegiances to there clubs. It's been documented how the England changing room has been split because of that over the years. That's why I don't think it worked for us, it won't harm them playing for the same team.

 

good point.