Beyond The Cup

Martinez: We have to savour this generation of Belgium players

beyondthecup — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 04:53:46 +0000

Belgium finished third at Russia 2018
Featuring stars like De Bruyne, Witsel, Hazard, Mertens and Lukaku, the Red Devils are a force to be reckoned with
With Qatar 2022 fast approaching, Belgium coach Roberto Martinez chatted with FIFA about several key topics

Having finished third in Russia four years ago, a final placing secured via a 2-0 victory over England, Belgium are planning on making an even greater mark on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

With six players – Jan Vertonghen, Axel Witsel, Toby Alderweireld, Eden Hazard, Dries Mertens and Romelu Lukaku – on 100 caps or more, Roberto Martinez’s side boasts quality and experience all over the park.

The Spanish tactician, who was handed the reins of Les Diables Rouges in 2016, took time out of his busy schedule to chat exclusively to FIFA Studios about a variety of subjects, including his team’s “golden generation” moniker, their long occupancy of top spot in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (from September 2018 to February 2021), and his memories of Russia 2018.

During your team’s impressive World Cup qualifying campaign, you became the coach with the highest number of wins in Belgium’s footballing history. Are you proud of that record?

Roberto Martinez: Yes, I’m extremely proud of it. But I should point out that I’m just one element of the huge amount of effort put in by the Belgian FA, which has resulted in new facilities and lots of new players. That’s what I’m truly proud of, even more than winning matches. Wins are the consequence of the hard work carried out by around 100 people behind the scenes, who are constantly striving to help the team – and Belgian football – to make progress.

What memories do you have of Russia 2018? Was getting within touching distance of the final a bitter pill to swallow?

I don’t know. That’s not how I tend to look at things. At the time, I felt like we’d given everything, and when that happens, you have to accept that you were facing a team that was trying to achieve exactly the same goal as you.

A semi-final defeat is one of those setbacks that you need to find a way of dealing with. It’s very, very difficult, but you manage to get over that feeling of disappointment by quickly playing in another match. That’s what we did, when we finished third at the World Cup for the first time ever. We had more of a sense of a job well done rather than a feeling of missed opportunity. This group of players became the greatest Belgian generation in tournament history.

😘 Thx coach ! 🇪🇸

🥉
#REDTOGETHER #WorldCup #BELENG pic.twitter.com/GfWwz5gi6M
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) July 14, 2018

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Lovren: Croatia can achieve great things again

beyondthecup — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 04:36:33 +0000

Dejan Lovren is one of the key figures for Croatia’s national team
The team are aiming to repeat the heroics of 2018 and go far as possible in Qatar
The centre-back spoke exclusively to FIFA

Dejan Lovren was a key member of Zlatko Dalic’s side at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, where his on-pitch displays and leadership qualities helped Croatia reach the Final.

While the 4-2 defeat to France was a huge disappointment, the outpouring of affection from the Croatian fans for their idols offered genuine consolation. Dejan Lovren was undoubtedly amongst those lauded and, at 33, will try to bring his experience to help the team compete strongly at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

The former Liverpool defender, currently at Zenit St Petersburg, may not have as prominent a role in Dalic’s side in Qatar, with his focus instead on passing on everything he has learnt during a stellar career at club and international level.

FIFA spoke to the Croatian star about his expectations going into this World Cup and the importance of the experience he gained in 2018.

Dejan, Qatar 2022 will be your third World Cup. Is the level of excitement the same as it was before the first?

Dejan Lovren: Of course. Maybe even bigger. As I get older and closer to the end of my career, I’ve learned to appreciate even more each professional fixture – let alone those in major competitions. Looking back at the last World Cup in Russia, it’s something we’ll never forget, and it makes me believe we can achieve great things again.

Tell us about that World Cup in 2018. It must have been a bittersweet experience to be part of Croatia’s finest footballing hour, but then to lose the final.

Well, yes. It all happened so quickly. We only had three days to prepare for the game. We were completely worn out, both mentally and physically. Our success made history but the weight of responsibility was on our shoulders. We thought luck might help us in the final but France were stronger and deserved the victory. Maybe the football we played was attractive but, in the end, it didn’t lead us to victory.

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Low expectations accompany Aussie outsiders

beyondthecup — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 14:20:25 +0000

FIFA

When Australia qualified for Germany 2006, it was just the second FIFA World Cup of their history – and their first in over 30 years. Now, with the Socceroos heading to a fifth consecutive global finals, you might imagine that this is being celebrated as the continuation of a golden era.

But there is not, in truth, a huge amount of hope or excitement invested in the team heading to Qatar. Most Australia fans didn’t expect to be in this position earlier this year, and plenty at that stage were even calling for the team’s coach to be removed from his position.

Graham Arnold is made of stern stuff, though, and his vow – that the out-of-form Socceroos would “get the job done” in June’s Doha play-offs – was borne out by narrow, hard-fought wins over United Arab Emirates and Peru.

Arnold reflected after that “no-one in Australia had given us a chance”, and described his side’s qualification – at the end of a COVID-hit campaign in which they had to play 14 of their 18 preliminary matches overseas – as “one of the greatest achievements ever”.

It would be wrong, though, to suggest that the grit shown in those play-offs has sparked a surge in self-belief among Socceroos fans. With a team that lacks in the star names of years gone by, and a record of failing to win any of their six matches at the last two World Cups, those supporters will approach Qatar 2022 with modest hopes and low expectations.

Arnold’s approach and tactics

Given that his squad is not brimming with dazzling individual talent, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Australia coach has opted for a style that can best be described as functional.

Arnold’s Socceroos are not a team that seeks to monopolise possession and they are highly unlikely to lead Qatar 2022 in goalscoring and chance creation. Nor, despite their coach’s early suggestions that he would like to base his Australia team on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, do they tend to press aggressively, high in the opposition half.

Shape, solidity and a focus on exploiting set-piece situations have tended to be the pillars on which this Socceroos team has been built, and more of the same can be expected in Qatar. Arnold has, though, always attempted to include the likes of Ajdin Hrustic and Tom Rogic – players with the capacity to produce the spectacular – and recruiting Scotland-born Martin Boyle has given the team much-needed pace on the counter-attack.

The Australia coach has also proved himself willing to experiment, having road-tested various formations this year, and ready to gamble. The ultimate example of the latter was his decision, ultimately inspired, to replace captain and No1 goalkeeper Mat Ryan with Andrew Redmayne for the shootout against Peru, in which the ‘grey wiggle’ ultimately came up trumps.

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Southgate: This England team can go even further in Qatar

beyondthecup — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 14:15:20 +0000

Gareth Southgate has been speaking to FIFA+
England manager is aiming to improve on reaching the last four and final of the Three Lions’ two most recent tournaments
He chats about Nations League struggles, drawing inspiration from the Lionesses and breaking through historical barriers

Gareth Southgate loves coming into work at St George’s Park. And it’s easy to see why.

Tucked away in the quiet Staffordshire countryside, the FA’s gleaming headquarters and neatly manicured training pitches are a coach’s paradise. When he gazes around, reflecting that “we didn’t have a home until we came here”, it speaks for the enjoyment he finds amid a collaborative community of like-minded souls, all focused on English success.

But every time he arrives and salutes the St George’s Park receptionist, Southgate is greeted by images that provide a vivid reminder of his to-do list – and the item underlined at the top. England’s U-17s are splashed across the wall, the U-19s and U-20s too, and the senior women now take pride of place after this year’s spectacular UEFA Women’s EURO triumph. All of them, naturally, have trophies held aloft.

Other coaches might feel taunted and tormented by such celebratory shots. Southgate describes them as “inspiring”. He can also see that, like the women’s team before them, his side have been edging steadily closer to that elusive and long-awaited moment of glory.

It’s easy to forget that the England team he took over had just been dumped out of the EURO by Iceland after finishing bottom of their section at Brazil 2014. Since then, the Three Lions have shed their tag as perennial underperformers at major tournaments by reaching their first World Cup semi-final in 28 years and the first EURO final of their history.

The question now, of course, is how they take that next, all-important step from being on the podium to reaching its top. That issue was front and centre as Southgate sat down with FIFA+ to look ahead to Qatar 2022.

FIFA+: Gareth, before we move on to the World Cup, it’s already been a year to remember for English football thanks to the Women’s EURO success. How much did you enjoy that as part of the FA set-up and as an England fan? Gareth Southgate: Well, we know so many of the people not just in the senior team but in the junior set-up, who’ve helped those girls come through. So many people in administrative and coaching roles here were so proud and took such pleasure in what happened, and that was great to see because we knew the disappointments they’d been through, having come so close at recent tournaments. It’s also true to say that we were looking at those scenes, knowing how close we’d been the year before and thinking, ‘That’s what it would have been like if we could only have got one more goal’. But it was amazing to watch all the same.

Does it encourage you that they’d been on a similar journey to your team – improving, beginning to consistently reach the latter stages of tournament – before winning that trophy? I do think most teams that win tend to go close beforehand. If you look at the men’s game, that was definitely the case with France when you remember how close they got to winning the EURO two years before they won the World Cup. Other teams that have won over the years have also tended to reach semi-finals and finals first. It’s actually been one of the targets we’ve had here from junior level right the way through, to consistently hit semi-finals, because it’s when you get to the latter stages of tournaments that you start to learn how to win those big matches. If you keep knocking on the door, you start to win. We’re finding that to be the case at all of our age groups now.

Another aspect of England’s women’s success was the effective use of substitutes as ‘finishers’ in matches and the importance of the non-playing members in creating the right squad atmosphere. Is that something you’re taking into account for Qatar, and does it chime with your experiences of previous tournaments? It does. We’ve found in our two tournaments that several players who didn’t kick a ball were really important to the feel of the group, and I think history tells you that. Personally, I’ve played in tournaments where I’ve played every minute and I’ve been to a tournament where I didn’t kick a ball. You know those roles are different and you know what you’ve got to contribute to the team. With five substitutes now, I think the squad is even more important. That’s both in depth and just in people understanding their roles, because at set plays you can have half the team changing as the match goes on.

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