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Michel Sablon: The Man Who Re-Engineered Belgian Football
Published: June 24, 2016
The Red Devils have unified and helped a new word come into vogue: "Belgitude" is a confluence between Belgium and attitude, exemplifying the surrealistic desire for a homogeneous country.
Michel Sablon is responsible for much of the renewed 90-minute patriotism: In the early 2000s, the clairvoyant technical director uprooted Belgian football's prolonged state of indolence and inertia with a revolution based on a 4-3-3 formation, individual player development and institutional change.
Sablon re-engineered the Belgian game.
Sablon shivered despite the tropical temperatures in the stands of the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. Sweat trickled down his face.
Belgium were playing Turkey in their Euro 2000 group-phase decider. They had to win and imposed a game of audacious velocity in the opening exchanges in order to strangle their opponents. Both strikers, Luc Nilis and Emile Mpenza, probed and poked but lacked a cutting edge. The Turks sequestered Marc Wilmots, who had so excelled in the previous group games against both Sweden and Italy, in midfield.
For the better part of the 90 minutes, Belgium's game was an ungainly lateral stasis: a rigid organization in a 4-4-2 formation, but without any resourcefulness in the final third. They lacked skill, intelligence and cohesion. Goalkeeper Filip de Wilde's howler and Hakan Sukur's goalscoring nous wrecked Belgium's party.
Sablon cringed. Belgium's textbook capitulation was a repeat performance of the 1998 World Cup: The team had played to its limitations in a gritty demonstration of pragmatism and toil, but ultimately its players were, at best, blue collar. They didn't belong in elite football.
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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