I don't even watch the international games of the Belgian team anymore.  Maybe things will pick up a bit now that Advocaat is there...I doubt it though.
Problem is that we've bought into this whole "combination football" and "technique" thing. We have some ok technical players, but not as good as the international top and not even good enough to dispose of lesser teams like Lithuania or Cyprus. So, we should just drop all the bullshit about trying to play good football and return to our roots: solid organisation, fighting spirit, physical prowess and counter football. We attended 5 consecutive world cups with that attitude. A team like Italy doesn't pretend it's anything it isn't and plays ultradefensive when it needs to. So, I say we as Belgium just play hard defense and pump high balls into the sixteen - we can put Van Buyten in the front center position for all I care. 
@ Satis: well, yeah, but the USA was playing behemoths like Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobage in its qualifiers. Many European teams are pretty shafted by the fact that the majority of strong football nations is European, and because every continent plays seperate qualifiers some weak-ass exotic teams make it to the world cup at the expense of European nations (like North Korea, wtf). Having said that, Belgium is so shit they probably would have managed to get spanked by North Korea. 
@ Arathorn: I disagree...I think Holland will struggle. Denmark won its qualifiying group ahead of Portugal and Sweden and Japan is a very bizarre team that can play very well or very bad depending on the day. Cameroon is always tough (and they play in Africa, too). Could b e tricky for you Dutchies.
Italy's group is a joke. NZ?!
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