FRANCE 98 – Match preview n°8
One of the fiercest rivalries in European football will be rekindled when Belgium and the Netherlands meet in their opening Group E match here on Saturday evening. Neighbours and political allies they might be, but whenever they meet on the football field, the intensity of their mutual hostility is almost tangible. But the 1998 vintage seems until now to be somehow lacking in that spark which could set the game alight. For both sides seem to be past their best, and it is the veterans who have captured what limelight there is to speak of.
The major blow for the Dutch is that they will have to do without their key man, striker Dennis Bergkamp, the English Player of the Year, who is still carrying the thigh injury which ended his season early. And there is a strong likelihood that captain Frank de Boer, the defensive lynchpin, may also miss the clash as he has not shaken off an ankle injury picked up in training earlier in the week. Bergkamp’s absence means that coach Guus Hiddink has to decide who to pair with Patrick Kluivert up front, and with Kluivert out of sorts after a disappointing season, it could be the moment for Bergkamp’s Arsenal colleague, the erratic Marc Overmars, to earn a return. Much will hinge on the form of Real Madrid’s European Cup winner Clarence Seedorf, and if he does not deliver it might turn out to be the often-wayward Edgar Davids’ turn to run the midfield.
Belgium have an injury doubt in solid Bosnian-born defender Fordan Vidovic, who suffered a groin strain while training in the rain this week, which would seriously unbalance an already unsteady-looking back four. Coach Georges Leekens has another dilemma just behind the frontrunners – whether to persist with the workhorse Marc Wilmots behind Luis Oliviera and Luc Nilis, or whether to bring in the veteran Enzo Scifo for his fourth World Cup.
Scifo is now back with Anderlecht in the twilight of a career of largely unfulfilled promise which has taken him on a pan-European tour of leading clubs, and playing as well as ever. A crowd-pleaser and a highly skilful individual, Scifo does not have Wilmots’ application, a point underlined by Leekens following the recent victory over Paraguay in last Saturday’s friendly. He replaced Wilmots at half-time and ran the show, celebrating his recall after being ignominiously dropped against the United States in February, and scored the decisive goal, his 18th international strike. And Leekens said: ” I was very happy with the way Enzo slotted back into the side, but we must make sure he is not put under unnecessary pressure – and certainly no comparisons should be made between his style of play and Wilmots’. “
The message seems clear: if the Belgians are going to beat their arch-rivals, and for once they have an excellent chance, they will need both the discipline of Wilmots – and if they need an injection of individual skill, he will have to make way for Scifo.