With the practice match against Ireland, the Red Devils are gradually starting the final stretch towards the European Championship. The ideal opportunity for national coach Domenico Tedesco to try out a few more things, especially now that a few key players are unavailable due to injury. “But I want to recognize our DNA tomorrow.”
Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Koen Casteels … Domenico Tedesco will be missing many important pawns on his chessboard in the practice match against Ireland on Saturday.
Another player, Charles De Ketelaere, was injured during training with the Belgians today. Tedesco was bombarded with medical questions at the press conference in the run-up to Saturday’s match.
“De Ketelaere felt discomfort during training yesterday,” the national coach opened. “Even after the check-up, he did not feel 100 percent, and the risk for these types of practice matches is too high. He is young and eager, but the time is too short until tomorrow’s match and Tuesday.”
“Lukaku is also not ready for Saturday,” Tedesco removed some doubts. “We started working with him when he arrived. He will also train individually tomorrow, but normally he will be ready on Tuesday. Casteels also normally gets fit by Tuesday.”
Variety as an asset
With Lukaku, the Devils will miss their record scorer against Ireland. Will that be an adjustment? “Yes,” the national coach said firmly. “After all, our three strikers are completely different.”
“Lukaku always contacts the defender and waits for the ball. He is like a wall and can handle all types of balls, wherever they come from. That was a great strength of ours in the qualifying matches.”
“Batshuayi is more the type of player who gets into the ball and looks for space between the lines. Openda always looks for the right moment to go deep with his speed. Having these different options is a great asset.”
Record scorer Lukaku may be fit for the clash against England on Tuesday.
No starting team for the European Championship yet
Due to the high injury burden, the Belgians will not really be able to field a typical team. “But we will have a good team on the field, there is no team A or team B,” Tedesco remained diplomatic.
“I want to see the same passion on the field as during the last international matches. But above all I want to see what we trained for, I want to recognize our DNA. There must be a certain stability on the field, if the result is not too bad, all the more better. Either way it will be a good test.”
With the diptych against Ireland and England, the Belgians are gradually entering the final straight line towards the European Championship. Is there still room for experiment?
“Of course we will try out a few more things, but that must always fit into a bigger picture. Small experiments, but nothing big.”
Of course we will try out a few more things, but that must always fit into a bigger picture. Small experiments, nothing big anymore.
Domenico Tedesco
“Do I want to play with my typing team in the remaining practice matches? I don’t have a basic team in mind yet for our first European Championship match against Slovakia,” said Tedesco.”
“In addition, we are now missing some players, so that would not be possible for the coming matches.”
One of those players is Kevin De Bruyne. The centerpiece of the national team has not played for the Devils for a year, is that gradually becoming a problem towards the European Championship?
“Kevin will always find his place in the team. He is so good that he does not need much time to adapt.”
De Bruyne has not played an international match for Belgium for a year.
“Ireland is difficult to analyze due to coaching change”
Tedesco did not have much to say about tomorrow’s opponent. The contract of previous national coach Stephen Kenny expired in November and was not extended. Irish record international John O’Shea recently took over as interim coach.
“It’s not easy to analyze a team that has just made a coaching change,” said Tedesco.
“John O’Shea was already on the staff before, but you don’t know what the outcome will be. But Ireland is very strong on the counter and has a lot of quality,” it sounded predictable.
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