Wales – Belgium 07.09.2012

Severely weakened Wales side could find it tough to match one of the most in-form sides in Europe,

especially as the hosts don’t appear to be in such a great form at the moment. Nevertheless, with both teams looking for a winning start, we should see a pretty interesting game in Cardiff.

Just like their next opponents, Wales boast a very talented squad of players who have already proved their worth at club level, but the big problem is their showings in the national team are not yet good enough. Numerous injuries just before important qualifiers are another thing that keep the Dragons from realizing their full potential, and it looks as though nothing has changed in this department. Just before the Belgium game, Craig Bellamy, Neil Taylor, Joe Ledley and few other important players picked up serious injuries, meaning they have been ruled out of this game. On top of that, the hosts enter the match on the back of three straight friendly defeats, in which they failed to score a single goal, so the FA’s decision to switch from the 90,000 capacity Millennium Stadium to 25,000 capacity Cardiff City venue looks like the right thing to do.
Craig Bellamy, Neil Taylor, Joe Ledley, Wayne Hennessey, Joel Lynch, David Vaughan and Andrew Crofts are all sidelined through injury.

Belgium, too, have been underperforming over the last few years despite arguably possessing the most talented squad in Europe, but they have finally started to show some improvement. With players like Hazard, Vermaelen, Kompany, Witsel, Fellaini, Lukaku, Dembele and few others playing key roles for major European clubs, the Red Devils were always going to come good, so their 4-2 victory over Netherlands and a real lesson in football they gave their arch rivals is not that surprising. Boosted by the impressive showings against one of world’s top sides, Marc Wilmots’ men are expected to record a victory over Wales and stake their claim for the first place in what is one of the most difficult groups in European Zone of the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. Marc Wilmots will have fully fit squad to choose from and it looks as though he is spoilt for choices in every area of the team.

Over all Belgium should just be the better team there, it would really suprise me if Belgium doesnt take all the 3 points here away in Cardiff.