In January 2004, Manchester City unveiled a new Belgian centre-back.
Tall, strong and dangerous in the air, Daniel Van Buyten was expected to shine during his six-month loan spell from Marseille. Although he featured only five times for the then-midtable English side, City were suitably impressed. They accepted, however, that the player was destined for a bigger move and Van Buyten joined Hamburg and then Bayern Munich, where he won the Uefa Champions League in 2013.
In 2008, days before Sheikh Mansour’s takeover, City unveiled another new Belgian centre-back, this time signing the player outright.
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Tall, strong and dangerous in the air, Vincent Kompany would become the bedrock of the club’s climb to the pinnacle of domestic football. He joined from Hamburg, the German side that had initially signed him in 2006 as a replacement for Van Buyten.
On Tuesday, Belgium face the United States in a World Cup last-16 clash in Salvador. Van Buyten is sure to start, but defensive partner Kompany continues to struggle with the groin injury that forced him to miss their final group game against South Korea. That match ended 1-0 in favour of the Europeans, but the US are sure to provide a tougher challenge; a challenge that Kompany – the Belgian captain – could have made more manageable.
Manager Jurgen Klinsmann’s US team arguably overachieved in the group stages. With a relatively inexperienced side, they beat Ghana, would have beaten Portugal if not for a stoppage-time equaliser and narrowly lost to Germany. The US have only once progressed beyond the last 16 – to the quarter-finals in 2002 – since the inaugural World Cup in 1930, when they finished third among 13 teams. Yet, Van Buyten insists he was “not surprised” by the Americans’ performance.
Belgium, in contrast, have both surprised and underachieved – or at least underwhelmed. Persistently billed as this year’s dark horses, Marc Wilmots’s team won all three of their group matches without really impressing. A 2-1 win over Algeria, a match in which they trailed, was followed by 1-0 wins over Russia and South Korea. For a team blessed with prominent names such as Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Jan Vertonghen, their performances had proved uninspiring.
“We could have tried to be spectacular, but that wouldn’t have made much sense if we’d just got eliminated at the end of it,” Van Buyten, 36, told Fifa.com. “Everyone has seen that we’ve had difficulties, especially against Algeria. It’s tough to make things happen when you’re up against sides who build a wall in front of their goal.”
Such a situation is unlikely to occur this afternoon. The Americans have produced spirited performances, but have rarely looked like expert erectors of brick walls. They have conceded in each of their previous 16 matches against European opposition and failed to keep a clean sheet in seven of their past 10 games in all competitions.
Belgium will enter the match as slight favourites, given their roster of players featuring in Europe’s top leagues, but the poor level of their performances so has caused their standing to be questioned as criticism crept into the camp. Van Buyten, his country’s oldest player, is refusing to look too far ahead.
“The most important thing is not to think about the future or let yourself get distracted,” he said. “We’ll have all the time in the world to pick over everything afterwards. The World Cup is happening now and we have to rise to the challenge.”
If Wilmots’s side can keep a clean sheet against the USA, half the job will be done. Without Kompany at the heart of the defence, however, that task will be all the tougher. The defender has been working in the swimming pool to strengthen his groin muscle. If he is passed fit he is sure to start, otherwise, the man who once replaced Van Buyten at Hamburg will likely be replaced by Nicolas Lombaerts.
“Vincent is my right hand on the field,” Wilmots said. “It is complicated when he is not there. We have others who can replace him, but we will do everything we can to get him ready.”
The US, who always give everything, will be quietly hoping that, for their rivals at least, everything is not enough.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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