In Group A Belgium would have been a favourite, next to West Germany. In Group B the team was the outsider. Not as toothless as Greece, but relatively weaker than the other teams. Belgium went through a crisis in the early 1970s, but after 1975 new talented generation emerged and Belgian football was steadily rising. Clubs was successful internationally – FC Brugge played two European finals and Anderlecht won the Cup Winners Cup twice. The ‘Red Devils’ failed to reach the finals of two World Cups, but did well at the two European championships in the 1970s. They were always a team rising to the occasion. Nobody expected them to be easily beaten in 1980 either, yet compared to the other teams in Group B Belgium seemingly had more negatives. FC Brugge and particularly Anderlecht depended on foreign stars, mostly Dutch. The lax Belgian rules for imported players made the number huge – Anderlecht was seen as a double of Ajax quite seriously. Compared to the foreigners, Belgian players were not so impressive, they were rather support players to their famous team-mates. None of the new Belgians was major European star, some were practically unknown. There was no new van Himst. And they did not look serious enough – some hippie-like bearded guys, too relaxed for the sober and tidy professionalism at the end of the 1970s.
Guy Thys was modest in his interviews, even a bit dismissive of his team, expressing modest expectation ‘if’ this or that happened. There was no fear, but no big hopes either, which was judged to be realistic view of the abilities of his team: able to give a fight, but not equal to the opponents. Thy run liberal and relaxed camp – something always loved by the media, because it provides horrified gossip. It was during the finals when the journalists rushed to the Belgian camp only to find ‘horror’: the doors were not heavily blocked, the team sipping beer, and Thys smoking his cigar nearby, benevolently looking at his boys and making jokes. The boys readily provided scary answers: ‘Why giving up good habits?’, mused the captain of the squad Cools when asked about the beer in his hand. ‘We don’t like discipline. We cherish individual space and the coach understands that. He trusts us and wea re not going to let him down.’, lectured Meeuws. The journalists remembered that some of the team played for semi-professional clubs, there was even a school teacher among them, and made skeptical conclusions: the team was not professional enough to go far. Neither Thys, nor the boys contradicted the media. Since few Belgian players were well known, it looked a team starting a vacation. Guy Thys was hardly taken seriously – he included Wilfried van Moer under pressure from the media. The veteran was the only player from the last Belgian team appearing at World Cup finals. It was in 1970 – in 1980 van Moer was 35 years old…
1
1GK
Theo Custers
(1950-08-10)10 August 1950 (aged 29)
Royal Antwerp
2
2DF
Eric Gerets
(1954-05-18)18 May 1954 (aged 26)
Standard Liège
3
2DF
Luc Millecamps
(1951-09-10)10 September 1951 (aged 28)
Waregem
4
2DF
Walter Meeuws
(1951-07-11)11 July 1951 (aged 28)
Club Brugge
5
2DF
Michel Renquin
(1955-11-03)3 November 1955 (aged 24)
Standard Liège
6
3MF
Julien Cools (c)
(1947-02-13)13 February 1947 (aged 33)
K. Beerschot
7
3MF
René Vandereycken
(1953-07-22)22 July 1953 (aged 26)
Club Brugge
8
3MF
Wilfried van Moer
(1945-03-01)1 March 1945 (aged 35)
Beringen
9
4FW
François van der Elst
(1954-12-01)1 December 1954 (aged 25)
Anderlecht
10
4FW
Erwin Vandenbergh
(1959-01-26)26 January 1959 (aged 21)
Lierse
11
4FW
Jan Ceulemans
(1957-02-28)28 February 1957 (aged 23)
Club Brugge
12
1GK
Jean-Marie Pfaff
(1953-12-04)4 December 1953 (aged 26)
Beveren
13
3MF
Maurice Martens
(1947-06-05)5 June 1947 (aged 33)
Molenbeek
14
2DF
Gerard Plessers
(1959-03-30)30 March 1959 (aged 21)
Standard Liège
15
3MF
René Verheyen
(1952-03-20)20 March 1952 (aged 28)
Lokeren
16
3MF
Marc Millecamps
(1950-10-09)9 October 1950 (aged 29)
Waregem
17
3MF
Raymond Mommens
(1958-12-27)27 December 1958 (aged 21)
Lokeren
18
3MF
Guy Dardenne
(1954-10-19)19 October 1954 (aged 25)
Lokeren
19
4FW
Willy Wellens
(1954-03-29)29 March 1954 (aged 26)
Standard Liège
20
1GK
Michel Preud’homme
(1959-01-24)24 January 1959 (aged 21)
Standard Liège
21
2DF
Jos Heyligen
(1947-06-30)30 June 1947 (aged 32)
Beringen
22
4FW
Ronny Martens
(1958-00-22)22 December 1958 (aged 22)
Anderlecht
Belgium was not impressive even on picture: some hillbillies. Little class – Francois van der Elst and Jan Ceulemans. Van Moer was seemingly of symbolic value – just a link between the last successful team and the current one. At his age seemingly he was not good for anything else and very likely would not even play. One recognizable name was missing – van Gool. And rightly so – after he moved from FC Brugge to 1.FC Koln, he no longer the same. The team list was almost a diagnosis: only 5 players of Anderlecht and FC Brugge. The success of the Belgian clubs was clearly not due to Belgian players. Nobody knew yet Pfaff and Preud’homme – burly Theo Custers was seemingly the number one goalkeeper and he was not much. Belgium was tough to beat, nobody was thinking playing against them a picnic, but the fear was mostly of possible disturbance the plans of others. The whole role of Belgium was perhaps to decide the group winner, not to win.