In fifty days, Belgium will be in turmoil. It will be November 23, 2022 and the pressure will start to mount as the Devils of Roberto Martinez will face Canada at 8 p.m. Belgian time.
Fifty days is also the time left for Roberto Martinez to prepare his team. If some of his players are in impeccable shape, such as Kevin De Bruyne to name a few, other players raise questions. And not just anyone. Among them, Eden Hazard.
While Carlo Ancelotti saw in him the understudy of Karim Benzema at Real Madrid, the Devil found himself barred by other players in the absence of the Frenchman. And now that El Nueve is back in the Madrid squad, Eden Hazard is likely to have starved playing time in the coming weeks.
And that will be a problem for Roberto Martinez. The latter confided in our colleagues from RTBF and mentioned the Eden Hazard case. “We will take stock of his situation as the World Cup approaches, and we will see what role we can give him. Eden Hazard is still a very important player for the national team, that’s 100% sure. His experience, his influence on opponents, his ability to eliminate a man, to create danger… In this profile, he is, in my opinion, one of the best in the world. Still today.”
The Catalan coach, however, hopes to find a well-legged Eden Hazard next November. “His situation can change enormously over the next five weeks. Everyone is aware of his situation: Eden has not played a string of matches for a very long time, and that has consequences. We must now ask ourselves if he can still playing 90 minutes, or seven matches in a very short period of time”, he continues with our colleagues.
Roberto Martinez also confided to having a different vision from that of Carlo Ancelotti about the big brother of the Hazard siblings. “Me, I don’t see him as a fake N.9, or as a player who can start in a central position. I see him as someone who has to play on the left and get into the game. That’s how that we see the best Eden. I don’t see him as a joker either, who can make the difference coming from the bench. His style of play is the opposite: he is a player who must take the rhythm of the game in hand, from the start of the game. We’ve been dating for six years, we know exactly what we can expect from him.”
The national coach also returned to the small controversy about the Brainois. Nightclub preview two days from Netherlands – Belgium, the captain of the Devils had received a shower of reproaches in Spain. “Eden has an important role to play in the team, as a person but also as captain. Our players are trusted, and he was allowed to spend time with family and friends. There is a very clear story behind it, but I’m not going to talk about it in public, it will be handled internally. I wouldn’t like it to be repeated, but there are reasons for this story.