Injuries racking up for Belgium as they name Euros squad

Marc Wilmots has named his final 23 man squad as Belgium continue to put their final preparations together for Euro 2016.

 

When you look at the pool of players they have to choose from, it is quite a tough task to whittle the team down to 23 players.

 

Martin O’Neill’s Ireland side will probably face their toughest challenge of Euro 2016 against one of the most talented squads of the finals in Belgium.

 

In general, it is an attack minded squad which has been selected, with the likes of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku all included.

 

Though Belgium look to possess some of the most threatening attacking players in the whole tournament, it is defensively which has caused headaches for Wilmots. Vincent Kompany and Bjorn Engels were already ruled out, but Nicholas Lombaerts and Dedryck Boyata have also joined the casualty list and will miss out on the finals. Still though, Wilmots feels that he still has a defence which will remain solid.

 



Belgium are in Group E and they open up the tournament against Italy on June 13th, before going on to face The Republic Of Ireland and Sweden.

 

They have not tasted success at a major tournament since winning gold in the 1920 Olympics on home soil. Euro 2016 may prove to be the best chance they have of claiming success yet since then.

 

 

Belgium squad in full:



Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Jean-Francois Gillet (Mechelen).

Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham, Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona), Jason Denayer (Galatasaray), Jordan Lukaku (Oostende), Thomas Meunier (Club Brugges), Laurent Ciman (Montreal Impact), Christian Kabasele (Genk).

Midfielders: Moussa Dembele (Tottenham), Radja Nainggolan (Roma), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid).

Forwards: Mitchy Batshuayi (Marseille), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Christian Benteke (Liverpool), Divock Origi (Liverpool).

    About John O'Shea

    John is a Cork based reporter, mainly covering Cork City and Cobh Ramblers. John also reports regularly on Munster Senior League and Cork Youths League football for the Evening Echo. John has also freelanced for … View Full Profile