Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen spent some of his Monday morning tweeting his disgust at Donald Trump winning the US election. It seems he’s in quite a statesman like mood this week, and ahead of Belgium’s match against the Netherlands, Vertonghen called for respect.
Belgium have long been in the Netherlands’ football shadow, but in recent years things have changed very much indeed. After Louis van Gaal somehow got a relatively weak Dutch squad to the semi-finals of the last World Cup, things have been going downhill.
Failure to qualify for Euro 2016 was embarrassing and the Netherlands have clearly taken a step backwards on the international stage. This all comes at the same time Vertonghen and his Belgium teammates have been rising up the rankings.
Belgium are currently ranked 4th in the world by FIFA, and the Netherlands 20th. Ahead of the two countries meeting in a friendly, Tottenham’s Vertonghen said there shouldn’t be any derogatory comments.
Quoted by Het Nieuwsblad, he added: “They still have some individual top players, but the team is just going to achieve something less. It is a team in construction and I expect them again to be very strong in a few years.”
Despite his respect, Vertonghen is obviously still very eager to play in the match and for Belgium to win, with the Tottenham defender saying: “On Wednesday there are no points at stake against the Netherlands, but we definitely want to win that match.
“Sunday is important (World Cup Qualifier against Estonia), but in history we have probably never been a favourite against the Netherlands. It is therefore a challenge to complete it now. The coach knows that emotionally this is a very important game.
“Everyone desperately wants to play. I maybe a little more so, because I know many players in the Netherlands. I follow Ajax closely too. It is the first time that I return to the ArenA and that gives a very special feeling. There will also be friends and family watching, I am really looking forward to it.”
Vertonghen will be hoping his Tottenham teammate Vincent Janssen doesn’t ruin the occasion.
