Rode Duivels Get Outplayed In Italy

Belgium played a friendly last Friday against 4 time World Cup champion Italy. Prior to the match, the Belgians knew it would be a daunting task getting a decent result from this encounter. The match was played at Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence Italy.
Belgium selection for the match:
Logan Bailly (KRC Genk)
Steven Defour (Standard CL)
Mark De Man (RSC Anderlecht)
Moussa Dembélé (AZ Alkmaar)
Marouane Fellaini (Standard CL)
Guillaume Gillet (RSC Anderlecht)
Carl Hoefkens (West Bromwich Albion)
Stein Huysegems (FC Twente)
Vincent Kompany (Hamburger SV)
Kevin Mirallas (Lille OSC)
Gaby Mudingayi (Lazio)
Sebastien Pocognoli (AZ Alkmaar)
Olivier Renard (KV Mechelen)
Timmy Simons (PSV Eindhoven)
Wesley Sonck (Club Brugge KV)
Stijn Stijnen (Club Brugge KV)
Gill Swerts (Vitesse Arnhem)
Daniel Van Buyten (FC Bayern München)
Jan Vertonghen (Ajax Amsterdam)
Axel Witsel (Standard CL)

Match Facts
1st half
• A Goal was scored in the opening 10 minutes from Di Natale’s beautiful volley thanks to a poor clear from the Belgian defense.
• A Pirlo free-kick in the 14th minute almost scores another early goal. Where was the defense?!
• Poor spacing was a continual issue of the Belgian defense.
• Italian through balls and passing kept piercing through the Belgian midfield.
• Italy dominated most of play.
• Belgium nearly scored in the 30th minute.
• The Rode Duivels seemed hesitant to play man-to-man when covering the Italians.
• Another poor clearance allowed Di Natale to set up an easy goal in the 39th minute.

2nd half
• Del Piero found Camoranesi for Italy’s third goal in the 49th minute.
• Belgium continued sitting back grinding down their defense’s stamina.
• Belgium continued to play rough against the Italians. Swerts continuously fouled Cassano when the Italian entered the match.
• Sebastien Pocognoli nearly gave up a penalty near the 28th minute.
• Belgium finally scored towards the very end of the match. Wesley Sonck headed the ball into the Italian goal from a corner kick during the 90th minute.

The score ended 3-1 in Italy’s favor. I was hoping that Belgium would lose respectfully, but instead they made poor defensive errors and sat back all match. Sitting back on defense usually works for a little while, but eventually you burn out your defense. You just can’t fall back on your defense the whole match. They needed more offense to shift the pressure off of their defenders. It was frustrating to watch for a Belgian fan.

Belgium coach René Vandereycken’s reaction:
“They saw a good match and it was a deserved victory for Italy. It is good for a young team like mine to face the world champions. I am not disappointed. “
I agree it was a great experience for the young Belgians, but he has to be disappointed. His squad let in three goals. Only one of those goals was well played. The other two were defensive blunders. The ball was in our half of the field for most of the match and we had few scoring chances. Our next friendly is another David vs. Goliath encounter as we battle 5th ranked Germany in August. That should be interesting.