2026 World Cup Team Notes: Belgium, After the Golden Generation Leaves, De Bruyne Still Wants One More Pass

Belgium's best World Cup lives inside one counterattack.

Kazan, 2018, against Brazil. In the 31st minute, Lukaku received near halfway with his back to goal. He turned, like a heavy truck rolling downhill. Fernandinho could not catch him, Miranda did not dare to jump in, Paulinho ran beside him without changing much. Lukaku carried the ball into Brazil's half and rolled it right.

De Bruyne received.

He did not decorate the moment. One touch to set it, right foot through the ball, low toward the far corner. Alisson dived and could not reach it. 2-0.

That goal was the golden generation in its cleanest shape: Courtois behind, Kompany and Vertonghen holding, Witsel and Fellaini absorbing contact, Hazard carrying, Lukaku running, De Bruyne sharpening the blade. Everyone was in the most natural place. All the gears met.

Belgium finished third that year.

Yet it still felt like a regret. That team looked as if it should have gone one step further. Hazard was light on his feet. De Bruyne was ruthless. Lukaku was in his peak years. Courtois seemed to make the goal smaller by stretching his arms. Belgium had the rare luxury a national team can possess: talent and maturity at the same time.

Four years later, in Qatar, the lights went out quickly.

A narrow, uncomfortable win over Canada. A 2-0 loss to Morocco. Against Croatia, Lukaku missed chance after chance. Those moments were replayed again and again: the ball arriving in front of goal, his leg stretching, the shot wide; another chance, off the chest, still not in. At full time he smashed the dugout panel. You could see an era loosening through those movements.

Football is cruel because it does not compensate for what should have happened.

Belgium should have had a final. Belgium should have had a European title. Belgium should have extended that 2018 curve. It did not. History records results, not stored-up regret.

By 2026, Belgium are no longer the team that frightens everyone at first glance.

That makes them interesting.

Once a team is no longer introduced as the strongest squad on paper, it can finally play without carrying that sign. For years Belgium entered every tournament like an exam: with all these players, why have you not won? Now the question has changed: after the golden generation, what is left?

The answer begins with De Bruyne.

He is no longer the player who can break open a match every three days. The body tells the truth. Hamstrings, muscles, recovery, all eventually remind you that those diagonal passes from the edge of the box were never free. But if he stands in the right half-space, the match still waits differently.

He does not need many touches. A head lift, a shoulder turn. Defenders hate that gesture, because the next ball might be behind the line, straight through the middle, or out to the weak side. De Bruyne does not merely see space. He often creates the space before the runner understands it was there.

Lukaku is another old structure.

You can call him heavy, criticize his misses, ask for more elegance. At national-team level, however, few forwards make two center backs think at once. With Lukaku, Belgium has an anchor. The ball can go to his feet, behind him, or through him to open grass for Doku or Openda.

Doku is the new noise.

When he receives, the match stops behaving properly. Small steps, a dropped shoulder, and the full back begins retreating before being beaten. His problem is part of the same gift: he can create so much disorder that even his teammates sometimes need to catch up. Belgium must turn him into a weapon, not an isolated performance.

Openda, De Ketelaere, Tielemans and Onana decide whether Belgium becomes a team of old memories or a genuine mixture.

Tielemans' passing and long shots, Onana's coverage, De Ketelaere's links, Openda's runs behind the line: none of them carries Hazard's glow, but the World Cup is not a highlight reel. You need someone to collect the second ball in the 58th minute, someone to receive the back pass on the flank, someone to carry ten meters when De Bruyne is marked.

Courtois remains the other half-life.

If he is healthy, Belgium enter every match with extra time hidden in the goal. Goalkeeping often looks like background until a tournament makes it the story. Against Brazil in 2018, Courtois tipped Neymar's late shot over the bar. That save felt almost like a goal. Teams that go deep usually need one or two of those unreasonable moments.

My judgment: Belgium are not a favorite to win it, but they are built to disrupt a knockout match.

They are not as deep as France, not as full as England, not as familiar as Argentina, not as structurally continuous as Spain. But they still have several players who can change a game in a few seconds. In a World Cup knockout match, you do not always need to be stronger for ninety minutes. Sometimes you need to be sharper for twelve.

Their danger is becoming an old team in an old rhythm.

If De Bruyne has to receive near the defensive line, if Lukaku has to wrestle with his back to goal for an hour, if Doku always faces two defenders, if Openda never sees space, Belgium will look heavy. Everyone will know the ball, but nobody will truly move it into danger.

Their best version should be more direct.

Courtois plays out. The defenders do not overpass. Midfield finds De Bruyne or Tielemans early. Doku stretches wide. Openda runs behind. Lukaku pins the center back. Stop playing as if the old generation still has to prove it did not fail. That era has passed. The task now is to let the final passes of the old names serve the fastest steps of the new ones.

It is hard to write Belgium without thinking of Hazard.

He is gone. The Hazard who carried the ball on the left in 2018, who seemed to walk defenders on a leash, now belongs to old video. A golden generation truly ends not when a player announces retirement, but when you look at a new squad and realize the person in your memory will not appear to receive on the left again.

But De Bruyne remains.

Lukaku remains.

Courtois remains.

Doku waits by the touchline. Openda stands on a center back's shoulder. Belgium no longer carry the arrogant sentence that they ought to win. They also carry less of the noise that sentence creates. That can be dangerous.

They may not reach the end.

But do not give De Bruyne one second in the 70th minute.

Some eras are over.

Some passes are not.

Belgium 2026 squad watchlist

Note: This list is based on recent competitive matches, qualification usage and regular national-team call-ups as of April 2026. The final 26-man squad depends on the official Belgian FA announcement.

• Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois, Koen Casteels, Matz Sels
• Defenders: Wout Faes, Arthur Theate, Zeno Debast, Timothy Castagne, Thomas Meunier, Maxim De Cuyper, Koni De Winter
• Midfielders: Kevin De Bruyne, Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana, Orel Mangala, Hans Vanaken, Alexis Saelemaekers
• Forwards: Romelu Lukaku, Jeremy Doku, Lois Openda, Charles De Ketelaere, Johan Bakayoko, Dodi Lukebakio, Leandro Trossard

If you like reading the World Cup through players, positions and national-team roles, you can play a round here: https://wordlecup.today/en/football/