Young Devils give Belgium hope

Belgium's hopes of qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008™ may be ebbing away but a new generation of young players is giving coach René Vandereycken hope.

Gloomy prediction
The Red Devils will look to end a run of four straight qualifying defeats in Wednesday's Group A tie against Serbia at the Roi Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. For many observers, though, they remain destined to miss out on a third successive major finals tournament, having failed to reach UEFA EURO 2004™ and the 2006 FIFA World Cup under Vandereycken's predecessor Aimé Anthuenis.

Not downhearted
Vandereycken himself is doing his best to maintain a cool head amid the gloomy prognostications. "I will leave the question of whether we have already been knocked out of UEFA EURO 2008™ for the analysts to answer," said the 54-year-old, who won 50 caps for Belgium. "We will go for a good result and we want to make progress. The way we work certainly won't change."

Positive attitude
Defeats against Finland and Portugal in their most recent games left the coach feeling oddly satisfied. "In Finland we played in the Dutch style, with a more attacking attitude than any previous Belgian away team," he said. "And people have not forgotten our good match against Portugal either. You have to keep in mind how far we have come. We are working to build a strong team again. The players know what we are aiming for and that is the most important thing for me."

Changing team
Belgium are certainly a much changed team from the one that opened their Group A campaign with a 0-0 draw against Kazakhstan. The squad for the Serbia game includes Logan Bailly, Maarten Martens, Kevin Mirallas, Anthony Vanden Borre and Thomas Vermaelen - all stars of the team that reached the UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals in June. In the process they qualified for next summer's Olympics, something their coach Jean-François De Sart called "an historic achievement for Belgian sport".

Tomorrow's stars
With fellow youngsters Vincent Kompany, Steven Defour, Nicolas Lombaerts, Moussa Dembele and Marouane Fellaini already established in the national team, and Under-17 hopeful Eden Hazard expected to take the step up soon, Belgium look assured of a bright tomorrow. UEFA EURO 2008™ may be a fading dream, but by the time 2010 World Cup qualifying starts, Vandereycken may have a real Belgian renaissance on his hands.