Belgium World Cup Team Blog » FIFA Rankings

Looking Ahead: Belgium vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina

julien — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:53:06 +0000

At the end of this month the Rode Duivels will play a World Cup 2010 Qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina. The match will played in Genk, Belgium and kickoff is at 20:45 on Saturday, March 28th. So the encounter is several weeks away. Our opponents lie fourth in European Group 5 with six points (just one behind us). They easily beat Estonia (7-0) and Armenia (4-1) in their previous matches but narrowly lost to Spain and Turkey. Performance-wise they have performed about as well as we have. Both national teams are also fairly close in the FIFA rankings (Belgium 53, Bosnia-Herzegovina 59). It might be a pretty competitive qualifying match. I think our squad is better than Bosnia-Herzegovina and that Belgium can look for a victory. It won’t be easy and the final score could be close, however, by a narrow margin. I’m predicting 2-1 Belgium.

New FIFA Rankings: Belgium Stands Still

julien — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 05:12:09 +0000

The new FIFA rankings were released for January 14, 2009. Belgium basically stood still in the table by maintaining its ranking of 54. Fellow World Cup 2010 qualifying nations, Estonia and Armenia were the only nations to move up in the rankings from Europe Group 5.

Rank Country Points
1. Spain 1663 pts
2. Germany 1389
3. Netherlands 1338
4. Italy 1326
5. Brasil 1246
6. Argentina 1180
7. Croatia 1142
8. England 1115
9. Russia 1103
10. Turkey 1016

Rank Country Points
54. Belgium 548
61. Bosnia-Herzegovina 517
112. Armenia 313
118. Estonia 260

Looking Ahead: 2009 In Belgian Football

julien — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:38:20 +0000

The Rode Duivels finished 2008 with a draw in an international friendly against Luxembourg. It was a very disappointing, frustrating, and angering (understatement) result. Prior to that fiasco, Belgium was having a nice journey in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Belgium tied Turkey 1-1 and just lost by one goal against Spain with a score of 1-2. Belgium is third in Group 5 with 7 points, just one behind Turkey. On March 3, 2009, Belgium will face Bosnia-Herzegovina for the Rode Duivels’ 5th match of the group stage qualifying. Before that match, the Belgians will play a friendly against Slovenia at home. After that match the schedule for next year, thus far, has more 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches including matches against Spain, Estonia, and Turkey. Belgium needs to get the better of Turkey, when they meet each other again, to help our chances for a spot in South Africa two years from now. Regarding our FIFA ranking, it slipped again in the November 8th rankings four spots to 55. I would like to see several things next year for the Rode Duivels: a better FIFA ranking, clinching a spot in the WC 2010, and a new coach. René Vandereycken has been the coach for 3 years now. Our draw against Luxembourg only reinforces my view that it is time for him to go.

Spain Narrowly Defeats Belgium In WC 2010 Qualifier

julien — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:08:26 +0000

Last Wednesday, Belgium faced Euro 2008 winners and world #1 Spain. It was a FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying match. The match was played at home at Stade Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijnstadion (King Baudouin Stadium) in Brussels, Belgium. Going into a match against such a formidable opponent isn’t easy. Anxiety and stress must have been on our players’ minds. On the otherhand, Belgium didn’t have much to lose as they were the quintessential underdogs. Surprisingly, it was the Rode Duivels’ best match under René Vandereycken thus far. Belgium hung tough against the European powerhouse. Wesley Sonck, who has lately been on fire scoring wise, opened the score in just the 7th minute of play. Just a few minutes later (around the 10th minute) Fernando Torres limped off of the pitch. It was a costly loss for Spain, but his substitution led to their eventual equalizing goal. Torres’ substitution, Cesc Fabregas, intercepted a Belgian pass and fed the ball to Andres Iniesta leveling the score at 1-1 in the 36′. Everton’s Marouane Fellaini played well again for Belgium. The promising Belgian had numerous occasions to score. The Rode Duivels continued their strong momentum in the second period with Fellaini opening the half with a scoring chance that was waved off-side. As time wore on, Belgium withdrew on the attack allowing Spain to seek another goal. David Villa scored a devastating (for Belgium) late goal in the 88′ sealing a Spanish victory. Final score Belgium 1-2 Spain.

Line-ups
* 1 Stijn STIJNEN (GK)
* 3 Timmy SIMONS (C) Yellow Card
* 4 Vincent KOMPANY
* 5 Daniel VAN BUYTEN Out (-46′)
* 8 Steven DEFOUR Out (-73′)
* 9 Axel WITSEL
* 10 Wesley SONCK Goal
* 14 Thomas VERMAELEN
* 15 Jan VERTONGHEN Yellow Card
* 16 Anthony VANDEN BORRE Out (-87′)
* 17 Marouane FELLAINI
Substitute(s)
* 2 Filip DAEMS In (+46′)
* 6 Guillaume GILLET In (+87′)
* 7 Jelle VAN DAMME In (+73′)
* 11 Stein HUYSEGEMS
* 12 Silvio PROTO
* 13 Stijn DE SMET
* 18 Moussa DEMBELE

* (GK)(C) Iker CASILLAS 1
* JUANITO 4
* Yellow Card Carles PUYOL 5
* (-84′) Out Yellow Card Goal ANDRES INIESTA 6
* Goal Yellow Card David VILLA 7
* XAVI HERNANDEZ 8
* (-16′) Out Fernando TORRES 9
* Juan CAPDEVILA 11
* SERGIO RAMOS 15
* MARCOS SENNA 16
* (-64′) Out SANTI CAZORLA 18
Substitute(s)
* Raul ALBIOL 2
* Fernando NAVARRO 3
* Yellow Card (+16′) In Cesc FABREGAS 10
* Pepe REINA 12
* Alvaro ARBELOA 13
* (+64′) In XABI ALONSO 14
* (+84′) In DANIEL GUIZA 17

Belgium Kicks Off WC 2010 Qualifying With A Win

julien — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:23:13 +0000

Belgium played their first World Cup 2010 qualifying match yesterday. They played against Estonia in Liege at Sclessin Stadium. The Rode Duivels were without Tchité (didn’t qualify) and Dembele (injury). We opened the match offensively with several chances. In the first half, Stijnen only had to make two saves. Eventually, we scored the first goal thanks to Wesley Sonck. Sergei Zenjov evened the score in the 57th minute. Our defense poorly marked Zenjov and Stijnen conceded the goal. Steven Defour scored another goal for Belgium after Sonck and Mirallas had scoring opportunities. The last goals of the match were scored by Sonck (80′, and 2nd goal of the match) and Oper (which brought some consolation to Estonia). Final score: Belgium 3-2 Estonia. Narrow victory for Belgium, but we can build off of the result. Match facts:
Line-ups:
Belgium
* Stijn STIJNEN (GK)
* Axel WITSEL
* Daniel VAN BUYTEN
* Jan VERTONGHEN
* Kevin MIRALLAS Out (-76′)
* Marouane FELLAINI
* Steven DEFOUR Goal
* Thomas VERMAELEN Out (-70′)
* Timmy SIMONS
* Vincent KOMPANY
* Wesley SONCK Out (-92′)
Subs
* Filip DAEMS
* Gaby MUDINGAYI
* Gill SWERTS
* Jelle VAN DAMME In (+70′)
* Olivier RENARD
* Stein HUYSEGEMS In (+92′)
* Tom DE SUTTER In (+76′)

Estonia
* (GK) Pavel LONDAK
* Aleksandr DMITRIJEV
* Alo BARENGRUB
* Andres OPER
* Dmitri KRUGLOV
* Enar JAAGER
* Joel LINDPERE
* Ragnar KLAVAN
* (-43′) Out Raio PIIROJA
* (-60′) Out Sergei ZENJOV
* (-78′) Out Tarmo KINK
Subs
* (+43′) In Andrei STEPANOV
* Artur KOTENKO
* Kaimar SAAG
* Konstantin VASSILJEV
* (+60′) In Martin VUNK
* Yellow Card (+78′) In Sander PURI
* Tihhon SISOV

Goals:
Belgium
* Wesley SONCK (40′, 80′)
* Steven DEFOUR (75′)

Estonia
* Sergei ZENJOV (57′)
* Andres OPER (93′)

Our next WC 2010 qualifier is against Turkey this Wednesday. That should be a tough one. The Turks are ranked #10 in the world and they had a great Euro 2008. My prediction: 2-1 Turkey.

New FIFA Rankings: Belgium Down From Germany Loss

julien — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:39:40 +0000

The new FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking show that Belgium dropped 9 spots from the 0-2 loss to Germany. Yesterday, FIFA updated the rankings:

Rank Country Points Movement
54 Lithuania 545 Up
55 Belgium 530 Down
56 FYR Macedonia 519 Down

Top 10
Rank Country Points Movement
1 Spain 1565 Equal
2 Italy 1339 Up
3 Germany 1329 Down
4 Netherlands 1295 Equal
5 Croatia 1266 Equal
6 Brazil 1252 Equal
7 Argentina 1230 Equal
8 Czech Republic 1134 Equal
9 Portugal 1120 Equal
10 Turkey 1033 Up

Belgium’s upcoming 2010 World Cup Qualifying opponents, Estonia, are ranked 128.

New FIFA Rankings: Belgium Moves Up

julien — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:59:53 +0000

Belgium moved up in the new FIFA rankings to 46th. We moved up 3 spots from the last release. The rankings were just updated today. The Rode Duivels haven’t played any matches lately so the move has to be due to other teams shuffling around in the rankings.

Belgium’s Ranking
Ranking Team Total points Change in points
45 Switzerland -1
46 Belgium 3
47 Tunisia 3

FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking Top 10
Ranking Team Total points Change in points
1 Spain 1557 3
2 Italy 1404 1
3 Germany 1364 2
4 Brazil 1344 -2
5 Netherlands 1299 5
6 Argentina 1298 -5
7 Croatia 1282 8
8 Czech Republic 1146 -2
9 Portugal 1104 2
10 France 1053 -3

Also in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League Belgium’s RSC Anderlecht will face the winner of the FC BATE Borisov (BLR) vs. Valur Reykjavík (ISL) match.