The match of the second qualifying round for the World Cup and guest performance of our Dragons in Brussels is getting closer, and BH players will play at the King Baudouin Stadium against the selection of Belgium, currently the second-ranked team in the FIFA rankings, on the 7th of October.
We played with popular Red Devils at the recent qualifiers for EURO 2016, and the Belgians won their visa for France as the best team from Group B. Unlike Belgium which ended the European Championship in the quarterfinals, Dragon were stopped by Ireland in the playoffs.
“Performance of Belgium at the European Championships, where we made it to the quarter-finals, is neither good nor bad. However, we have a fantastic team that is certainly one of the best ones in the world,” said the 67-year-old coach Georges Leekens.
“Our players have to play cautiously. The absence of Kompany, Vermaelen and De Bryne certainly could facilitate job to your selection, but despite the absence of three main players in Belgium, I think we will manage to win if we play at the highest level and show all the qualities that we have,” said Leekens, who was sitting on benches of nine Belgian clubs during his career.
“I really like Balkan Boys, as I call the players from the Balkans. BiH has several players who have great individual qualities. There is four to five world-class players in your national team, and Edin Dzeko makes something from nothing. This time, we must show that we are good enough to win against Bosnia. If we exclude the quality of BH players, we might have problems,” said the coach.
“Belgium and BiH are the two highest quality teams in Group H. However, Belgians should confirm the placement at the World Cup in Russia, and I’m sure that BH players want to play at the next World Cup as well,” said Leekens, who except the team of Belgium, also led teams of Algeria and Tunisia.
Robert Martinez is the first Spaniard on the bench of Belgium, and the 11th foreigner on the selector bench of Red Devils.
“Martinez is a good coach, but as my former assistant Marc Wilmots, he will need time to get used to the players. Only after a year or two, he will be able to rightly say that he knows the team,” said Leekens, and then briefly commented our coach Mehmed Bazdarevic.
“I know him. I met him several years ago. I think he had a great career as a football player.”
BH national team played with Belgium six times so far. Dragons recorded three wins, two defeats and one draw.
(Source: faktor.ba)
