Roberto Martinez, he did not take the word “affordable” in the mouth.
“It’s a tough drawsays our federal coach, present in Doha. We will have to be on top to qualify for the next round. But they are fantastic matches because of the links that exist between the different countries. Morocco has many players with a link to Belgium, there is even a staff member (Editor’s note: Moussa El Habchi, the ex-video analyst) who was with us in 2018.”
Martinez is especially wary of Canada. “They will arrive at the World Cup surfing on the wave of enthusiasm that their qualification caused. They have had a perfect run. They have been very consistent. I was impressed by their victories against Mexico and the United States .”
Croatia remain a formidable team, believes our coach. “I’ve seen they have players who were recently voted Man of the Match in the Champions League. They’ll want to build on the momentum from 2018. And they got to test the playing conditions in Qatar in March. (Editor’s note: 1-1 against Slovenia and 2-1 against Bulgaria during a mini-tournament for which Belgium refused the invitation).
The result of the draw did not amuse Martinez too much. “The potential opponents in the first part of the table were a little more affordable than Spain or Germany and then possibly Brazil. It’s a very difficult course against the biggest players in the world, but you have to accept it . This is international football.”
The only thing that pleased him was the fact of being able to start the tournament a little later, on Wednesday November 23 against Canada, by being placed in group F.
“That’s the good news. It means our preparation is longer and maybe we can play a game in front of our fans before leaving. I’m looking forward to the start of the preparation.”
