Both chasing Italy in the Nations League group standings, Belgium and France meet in Brussels on Monday with the hopes of catching the Group A2 leaders.
Belgium continue the nation’s decade-long trend of disappointing at major tournaments, having collected just four points from their first three group matches. While the “Golden Generation” of players has aged to the point of being mostly phased out, the next group of stars has carried that unfortunate mantle.
France, meanwhile, have been shaky since falling agonizingly short at the 2022 World Cup. They reached the semifinals of Euro 2024 but never seemed to convince supporters of their true title chances, and followed that up with defeat to Italy to begin the ensuing Nations League campaign.
Both teams could use a big victory here, especially Belgium who were beaten handily by this France side just last month in the first two fixtures of Nations League play.
France’s recent slide against other top European teams has seemingly confounded the betting market, and nobody knows what to expect from Les Bleus anymore these days.
Yet there is one thing we can bank on, and that’s Belgium being unable to muster up any kind of resolute performance against top sides themselves. While France have struggled recently against the likes of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, Belgium will provide little resistance unless France start seeing players sent off like Italy did a few days prior.
