John Terry has shared that there seems to be a ‘rift’ in the Belgium World Cup camp involving former Tottenham Hotspur star Jan Vertonghen and Manchester City playmaker, Kevin de Bruyne.
At 35 and 33, respectively, former Spurs duo Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld are still going strong, well, in some people’s eyes.
Prior to Belgium’s 2-0 defeat to Morocco at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, de Bruyne dismissed Roberto Martinez’s side’s chances of winning the tournament outright by claiming that the team is ‘too old’ and they missed their chance in 2018.
Well, after yesterday’s defeat, Vertonghen has seemingly had a pop back at his teammate by stating the team attacked poorly against Morocco because ‘we are too old up front’, as quoted by the Mirror.
Former Chelsea and England defender John Terry thinks there are issues in the camp and made it clear that the Belgians still have a chance to qualify with one more group game remaining, as he told beIN SPORTS (27/11/22 at 6:10 pm).
“It’s not like they are out of it,” said Terry. “I think it’s very difficult, this day and age as well, I think the managers give the players a voice nowadays.
“At some point, there needs to be a cut-off. You need to know who is in charge. From the outside looking in, it looks to me like the players are a little bit and it’s dictated by the players slightly.
“He (de Bruyne) still has a responsibility to go out there and face the media – we criticise the players when they don’t give their honest opinion and there is a balance. You don’t want that rift in the camp, which it clearly seems to be that there is. But they still have a good chance.
“We will soon see what they are made of. If they come out fighting, then you can say ‘it actually worked’, if not, then we know what they are all about.”
BELGIUM PAST THEIR BEST
That tag ‘golden generation’ is being thrown about with these Belgium players and how they have possibly missed the chance to secure glory.
During their peak days, the now-injury-prone and out-of-sorts Eden Hazard was ripping it up in Chelsea colours, whilst Alderweireld and Vertonghen built one of the strongest defensive partnerships during their days at Tottenham.
Romelu Lukaku seems to be declining after a dreadful season in the Premier League last time out, whilst the player at the peak of his powers in de Bruyne seems to be fed up with those around him and Roberto Martinez is being heavily criticised for the job he has done.
Mixed that together and it would be great to be a fly on the wall in the Belgium dressing room because it all seems to be going wrong.
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