Belgium's Old Names Still Have One More Pass to Play

When Belgium's squad is laid out, the eye still goes first to the old names.

Kevin De Bruyne. Romelu Lukaku. Thibaut Courtois.

They are three lamps along the road Belgian football has traveled for more than a decade. They do not burn as brightly as they once did. The body does not perform fairy tales forever. Speed fades, injuries arrive, recovery grows longer, and younger players begin to steal the frame. Yet as long as those lamps are still on, a match carries a familiar kind of waiting.

When De Bruyne receives the ball, the grass seems to open a path early.

He does not need a large gesture. A pause in the right half-space, a slight turn of the shoulder, and the back line tightens. Many passers see a gap before playing the ball. De Bruyne often appears to persuade the gap into existence. At this age he cannot light up every minute of every match, but he can still change one with twelve seconds.

Lukaku is another old order.

People often begin with his misses, especially those painful chances against Croatia in Qatar. But defining him only by those touches is lazy. At international level, a striker who can make two centre-backs step backward at the same time, hold the first long ball, and leave space for Doku or Lois Openda to run is still valuable. Tournament football does not always reward elegance. It often rewards the player willing to keep doing heavy work.

Courtois gives Belgium half a life more in goal.

Goalkeepers are background until the tournament suddenly makes them the whole scene. His late save from Neymar in 2018 felt heavier than many goals. If Belgium are to go further in 2026 than people expect, they cannot live only on the occasional flash from old attackers. They need Courtois to keep out the shots that were supposed to change the night.

The point of this squad, though, is not only nostalgia.

Doku is there. Openda is there. Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana and Charles De Ketelaere give the middle generation a voice. Belgium no longer have to pretend they are the terrifying paper favorite of 2018. The Eden Hazard era has drifted away. The defensive order of Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen has gone too. This Belgium is narrower, more direct, less complete.

But it still has players who can tear a match open.

Doku is the least polite of them. When he has the ball, the fullback backs up half a step, as if the floor might disappear. His strength is chaos. His problem can also be chaos. Belgium must turn his first burst into a second action, then a third, instead of leaving it as a solo show.

Openda needs depth behind the line.

De Bruyne needs someone running the path he has already seen.

Lukaku needs a runner sweeping around him when he pins a defender.

If those three things happen together, Belgium remain dangerous. Not like a favorite. Like the knockout opponent nobody is happy to meet. They may not dominate the ball. They may not look smooth. But if De Bruyne lands one pass, Doku breaks one side, Lukaku holds one defender and Courtois makes one unreasonable save, the opponent can suddenly find itself at the edge.

The phrase golden generation has become tiring.

It sounds like an exam that could never be passed. Third place in 2018 was not enough. The Euros were not enough. The group-stage exit in Qatar felt like a public farewell. In 2026, Belgium may finally be lighter. Nobody is demanding a title. Nobody is treating every game as a trial of a genius squad. The old names are still here, but they no longer have to answer only for the past.

This may be their last World Cup under the brightest lights together.

Last times are not always romantic. Football is rarely that kind. It may be a narrow match, a set piece, a scramble, or an old midfielder seeing a pass in the 73rd minute that nobody else saw. De Bruyne's generation did not carry Belgium to a final, but they have not played their last pass yet.

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