The injury
problems surrounding Belgium's squad have largely cleared ahead of Tuesday's
FIFA World Cup Group H opener against Algeria.
Already
without Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke - Belgium’s first-choice striker during
an unbeaten qualifying campaign - boss Marc Wilmots was faced with a potential
selection crisis in attack over the past week.
Romelu
Lukaku, in many respects a readymade replacement for Benteke, only returned to
training last Wednesday after sustaining a bruised ankle in the recent friendly
with Tunisia.
Divock Origi
hobbled out of a session on Saturday, but a scan on the Lille youngster's ankle
came back clear and Lukaku has also expressed confidence that he will be able
to take part in Belo Horizonte.
Midfielder
Kevin De Bruyne has also been told he can play despite suffering an ankle knock
in a training-ground challenge with Eden Hazard.
De Bruyne,
Hazard and new squad addition Adnan Januzaj are among the plethora of exciting
creative talents Wilmots has to work with, although there is a slight concern
in defence after Thomas Vermaelen reported knee soreness after Saturday's
training session.
Midfielder
Axel Witsel is confident they will have a strong team available for the opening
game, and the 25-year-old expects a tough battle from their African opponents.
"All the
players are physically and mentally ready and are looking forward to our first
game in Brazil," he said. "After all, you do not play in a World Cup
every day.
"No
match is easy at a World Cup, there are indeed no small teams in the World Cup.
Algeria are an opponent who are hard to play against and have some very
technically savvy players. They play very aggressive, and are not afraid of
hard battles.
"Maybe I
do expect a physical battle, but we will do everything to close our first match
in the group triumphantly."
Algeria head
into the match against Wilmots' lavishly gifted and much-fancied squad as
outsiders, but defender Essaid Belkalem has taken confidence from some of the
surprise results the World Cup has already thrown up.
"Just
look at Spain, who are the reigning world champions," he told AFP.
"They
were favourites and they took a beating against the Netherlands. Belgium are a
good team but we have will and the ability to cope."
Hazard is one
of the key threats that Belkalem and his defensive colleagues must deal with,
although assistant coach Noureddine Kourichi does not want his players to
become preoccupied by the Chelsea playmaker.
Kourichi
added: "If we focus on Eden Hazard, we could have some nasty surprises.
"We know
his qualities but also his weak points, but we can't focus especially on him,
there are others, like Lukaku.
"We
don't have a special plan against Hazard. We can mark and stop an opposing
player with our own strategy."
Culled from
Soccerway
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