Newly-appointed Belgium manager Tedesco was presented on Wednesday afternoon as the new national coach of Belgium. For the German Italian it seems time to finally start selecting at De Rode Duivels, but he himself does not see that as a priority. Tedesco mainly looks at quality, he emphasized.
The so-called ‘Golden Generation’ of Belgium has been together for a long time now and is only sporadically refreshed. At the last World Cup, players such as Jan Vertonghen (35), Toby Alderweireld (33) and Dries Mertens (35), for example, were still basic players. The tournament in Qatar was a big disappointment for the Belgians, who had to go home after the group stage.
Age is not a factor
In Belgium, it has been discussed for some time now whether it is not even time for a breath of fresh air by the national team. “This was also a topic during our initial talks,” Tedesco said Wednesday. “I immediately made it clear that for me there is no young and old: only quality counts. I don’t think we have much time to experiment, we just need to put together the best possible team. Whether the average age is 24 or 29, age is not the most important thing to me.”
At the same time, Tedesco did not want to rule out the possibility of new names joining the Belgian team. “In recent weeks I have been following the Jupiler Pro League,” said Martínez’s successor. “There is a lot of young talent, the clubs give young players a lot of playing opportunities. That’s very interesting. There is a lot of work to do, we have to get to know all the players and clubs.”
Tedesco will be on the bench for the first time with Belgium on Friday, March 24, which will then start the European Championship qualifying cycle against Sweden. “Our main objective is to qualify for the European Championship 2024,” the new national coach made clear. “It won’t be easy, because we have strong opponents in the preliminary round, but I’m sure we can do it.” Belgium will compete in the qualifying group against Sweden, Austria, Azerbaijan and Estonia.
