US never really had a chance...but Belgium can teach it a trick or three. |
What may surprise Americans is that Belgium's ascent is a relatively recent phenomenon. Like the US, it was a nobody in world football until the past few years. (The Europeans were ranked 71st in the world in the mid-2000s.) Belgium made a concentrated effort to study what made great footballing nations tick:
First, inspired by research trips to the best training centres in France, the Netherlands and Germany, every youth team in the country was told to play a fluid and flexible 4-3-3 formation favoured by the national team. Sablon made a brochure and went to clubs, schools and all youth coaches and told them how to do it. "It wasn't easy to go to people and tell them to stop doing what they'd done for years," added Sablon.Next, isolationist xenophobes should take note: many top Belgian players also trace their roots from elsewhere, which is fairly common nowadays in world football. I guess "Fortress America" in the immigration debate won't help the footballing cause:
Second, youth teams were no longer to focus on results. Sablon commissioned a study into youth football that saw 1,500 matches filmed and studied. One of the key findings was that too much emphasis was being placed on winning and not enough on developing players. It was win at all costs and that was costing Belgium. Sablon even went as far as ensuring under-seven and under-eight teams did not have league tables.
- Adnan Januzaj - born and schooled in Belgium, has Kosovan-Albanian parentage and a family lineage that reaches to Turkey
- Vincent Kompany - born in Brussels, Kompany's father, Pierre, is a Congolese immigrant. His mother, Jocelyne, is Belgian
- Romelu Lukaku - born in Antwerp but his father played up front for DR Congo when it was known as Zaire
- Mousa Dembele - born in Belgium but his father is from Mali
- Axel Witsel - his Martiniquais parentage made him eligible for France
- Nacer Chadli - born in Belgium but played senior international football for Morocco, but only in a friendly
- Marouane Fellaini - Born in Brussels to Moroccan parents from Tangier
- Spain: La Liga winners - Thibaut Courtois and Toby Alderweireld, Atletico Madrid
- England: Premier League winner - Vincent Kompany, Manchester City
- FA Cup winner - Thomas Vermaelen, Arsenal
- PFA Young Player of the Year - Eden Hazard, Chelsea
- Community Shield: Adnan Januzaj, Manchester United
- Germany: Bundesliga and German Cup winner - Daniel van Buyten, Bayern Munich
- Italy: Coppa Italia winner - Dries Mertens, Napoli
It's a formidable list of obstacles to the US becoming more than an also-ran in football, and it goes far beyond sport to include other things such as migration policy. But if the Yanks ever get serious about doing better in football, well, there's Belgium to study for starters.