The way to define a country’s “golden generation” if you are a coach of a national team is to do it warily.
Most golden generations never become champions and too much gilding of their reputations can become a distraction.
But the phrase is used regularly these days to describe the two countries who meet in Brussels on Sunday night, the top and third teams in Group B of Euro 2016.
Both are emerging from long periods absent from major championship finals and both live in the shadow of neighbours – the Netherlands and England, respectively – who hold a powerful sense of their own high status in the world game.
Belgium’s “Red Devils” also see a little of themselves in the roaring “Dragons of Wales”, so says their captain, Vincent Kompany, as revealed by Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey.
“I met Vincent a while back and he told me Wales reminded him of the Belgium team of five years ago,” Ramsey said. “Coming from him, that was a real compliment.”
Kompany, who will miss today’s confrontation with injury, was specific in his dates.
Five years ago, Belgium had just failed to qualify for a World Cup for the second time in succession and they had slipped outside the top 50 in the Fifa ranking.
There were grounds for optimism, though, and a renaissance.
Kompany was at the vanguard of a group of younger players coming through in the local league, who were heavily coveted abroad.
Their names are now household, their price tags lavish: Axel Witsel, for whom Zenit Saint Petersburg paid about €40 million (Dh146m); Eden Hazard, who joined Chelsea for a similar fee in 2012; Thibaut Courtois, Hazard’s Chelsea colleague and the goalkeeper who helped make Atletico Madrid Spanish champions last May; and the list goes on.
For a nation with a population of fewer than 12 million people, Belgium at present punch well above their weight in terms of the individual profile of their players in elite club football, which is as good a measure as any of the goldenness of a generation.
A good example is the defensive unit Belgium took to the World Cup in Brazil – their first major tournament for 12 years.
They reached the last eight with defenders that included four players with freshly minted winners’ medals from the top three leagues in Europe: Courtois and Toby Alderweireld (Atletico), Kompany (Manchester City) and Daniel van Buyten (Bayern Munich).
Up forward, coach Marc Wilmots has a range of choices and an abundance of quick, nimble creative players: Hazard, foremost, as well as Kevin Mirallas, Kevin de Bruyne, Dries Mertens, Nacer Chadli and Adnan Januzaj.
Belgium are at a rare point in their modern footballing history where from over the border in the Netherlands, a country hugely proud of its football culture, the fruits of Belgium’s youth development are regarded with envy.
There is not a lot England, who strut proprietorially around British football, might envy about Wales.
Certainly not the long record of non-participation in tournament competition, which stretches back to a quarter-final in the European championship of 1976.
But there are three or four citizens of Wales’s population of just over three million who would likely secure a place in the English national team: Ramsey, certainly, and possibly Ashley Williams, the Swansea City central defender.
A case might also be made for a fit and in-form Joe Allen of Liverpool. Then there is Gareth Bale, the most costly footballer in the history of the sport.
Should Wales make their way to France for Euro 2016, Bale, for whom Real Madrid paid close to €100m in 2013, will be their standard-bearer, as Hazard will be Belgium’s.
“People talk about Bale and Hazard,” said Chris Coleman, the Wales manager, “and they say Wales are a one-man team and if Hazard doesn’t perform, Belgium don’t perform.”
Coleman is reluctant to buy into that idea any more than Wilmots is to think his Devils are dependent on the Chelsea player, but acknowledges that Bale’s speed is his key weapon, one that will unnerve a Belgian defence lacking Kompany and the injured Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen.
“Belgium have got quality in every position but they’re not invincible,” said Coleman, who has been using the phrase golden generation through Wales unbeaten run in qualifying.
“Our mentality now is we don’t just accept losing. We’ve worked hard at being harder, meaner, more streetwise.”
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Williams at Wimbledon
Venus Williams - 5 titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008)
Serena Williams - 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016)
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Results
2pm: Serve U – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Violent Justice, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
2.30pm: Al Shafar Investment – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,400m; Winner: Desert Wisdom, Bernardo Pinheiro, Ahmed Al Shemaili
3pm: Commercial Bank of Dubai – Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Fawaareq, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
3.30pm: Shadwell – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
4pm: Dubai Real Estate Centre – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Rakeez, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
4.30pm: Al Redha Insurance Brokers – Handicap (TB) Dh78,000 (D) 1,800m; Winner: Capla Crusader, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
Tori Amos
Native Invader
Decca
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
Dubai World Cup Carnival Card:
6.30pm: Handicap US$135,000 (Turf) 1,200m
7.05pm: Handicap $135,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.40pm: Zabeel Turf Listed $175,000 (T) 2,000m
8.15pm: Cape Verdi Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,600m
8.50pm: Handicap $135,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap $175,000 (T) 1,600m
Things Heard & Seen
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton
2/5
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
