Well I can’t remember when the last time Belgium did play against Iceland. But regardless when it was, things have changed a lot.

Belgium is the bronze medal winner of the last World Cup and Iceland well did surprise the world during the last European Championships and did manage to make it to the World Cup, which is impressive for a country with a population of only 334.252 (2016) people.

Flashscore does learn me that we have played 9 time already against Iceland. All previous occasions where won by Belgium. The biggest victory was 8-3 in 1957!

The last recent encounter was a friendly game, which Belgium did win with 3-1. This was in 2014!

From the starting 11 back then we do see some familiar names like Courtois, Verthongen, Alderweireld, Witsel, Fellaini, Dembele and Hazard.

Belgium did play a friendly games against Scotland some days ago and did cruise to a 0-4 victory. Iceland on the other hand already played a game in the Nations League and are already threatened with relegation after a 6-0 defeat in Switzerland.

So both teams will have a complete different mindset facing this game!

Selections

Belgium

Besides missing DeBruyne with a long term knee injury, Martinez only has positive selection problems. All players are fit and are eager to win the Nations League!

He only has one question to fill in! Who will play on left midfield? The options are: Nacer Chadli, Yannick Carrasco and Thorgan Hazard.

Chadli did impress during the world cup but haven’t played a single minute this season. He did have a last minute transfer to Monaco and does lack match fitness.
Carrasco did lose his place and status within the national squad during the world cup, but did play every minute in the Chinese competition!
Hazard did start against Scotland and did play the full 90 minutes!

My guess: Thorgan Hazard will start!

Tielemans is the best candidate to replace DeBruyne on the midfield! Dembele is also possible, but Martinez really like the playing style of Tielemans, which should become one of the next key players of Belgium!

The most likely lineup for Belgium:

Courtois

Verthongen, Alderweireld and Kompany

Meunier, Witsel, Tielemans and T. Hazard

Mertens, E. Hazard and Lukaku

Iceland

Well I do have too much knowledge about Iceland.

But probably there starting 11 will be the following:

Haldorsson

Saevarsson, Ingason, R. Sigurdsson and Masnusson

E. Bjarnason, B. Bjarnason, Halfredsson and Traustason

G. Sigurdsson and Bodvarson

The game

Iceland only managed to get one shot on target against Switzerland and loosing again will bring to relegation to division 2 already closer. Losing the 2 opening games in a competition with only 4 games is deadly!

So they will start with a rather defensive play. Although that got 6 against in their opening game, the defensive compartment is one of the best in Europe. Not by names, but by fighting spirit and tactics! They can cement a goal!

But will it be enough against the red devils? Belgium will become the new number one of the FIFA ranking. While we all know that this doesn’t mean anything, it still is something to be proud on for a country with only 11 million people!
Also this Golden Generation does want to win a trophy, Euro 2020 is on their mind, but if they can win the first edition of the Nations League, they will at least have one trophy.

Iceland will have to most chance to score from a set piece, while Belgium has many options. If Iceland chooses to attack, they could run into deathly counters, you can ask Japan.

I do think that Belgium will win with a 2 goal difference! There is just too much quality in the Belgium squad to loose this game. Even if they fail to score early to can change the tactics by just replacing Lukaku with Batshuayi. Batshuayi does run more than Lukaku, creating more space for Mertens and E. Hazard.

It will be an interesting game, but my money will be on Belgium!

What is your opinion about this game? Would love to hear!

Cheers,
Peter

Soccer / iceland vs belgium

Iceland vs Belgium Preview

Iceland vs Belgium Preview

Iceland vs Belgium Preview