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New York Times
10-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Football Architects: Double-diamonds and late developers – inside the rise of Belgium's golden generation
This is the second of a six-part series looking at figures who have played a pivotal role in a modern football success story. The first piece, on the rebuilding of Ajax, can be found here. Each article comes with a related podcast, which can be found here on The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast feed. For one of the key architects of Belgium's golden generation, his aim was simple — 'I want to teach the most difficult football.' Bob Browaeys sits back in his chair at the Belgian FA's base in Tubize, just south of Brussels. The 56-year-old coach is affable, a former goalkeeper with huge hands and a propensity to push his seat away from the table in excitement when he talks. Advertisement This is a space-age facility — underlighting in the boardrooms, 11 first-grade pitches, and the literal footprints of the country's former greats leading towards its doors. And in many ways, it is the house that Bob built — he is one of a small group of executives and coaches at the Belgian FA who took a nation with a population of less than 12million (London and New York City alone, for comparison, are home to approaching 9m people each) from 71st in FIFA's men's world rankings to first in less than a decade, paving the way for the Tubize facility's redevelopment. The key was producing a fearless collective of players — at odds with the previous century of football in Belgium. 'So, what is the most difficult football?,' Browaeys begins. 'I'd try to explain to my players, we are going for 100 per cent possession. We play against Spain and their technical ability? We want the ball. We play against the strength of England? We want the ball. It's easier to learn defensive tactics, but to be skilful on the ball? That's the key. 'So we'd always try to play out through high pressure. We'd ask our four defenders to dribble, to get into the box at the right moment, to overload the midfield. We wanted initiative — this is the most difficult football. 'But then we need to create an environment where players can develop themselves and where they are able to make mistakes. Players can only improve when they're allowed to fail. If a player is afraid to make mistakes, they'll make more of them. A mistake is an important step in their progression.' Belgian football had already made its share of mistakes. This millennium began in ignominy — the national team depressingly exited a home European Championship (co-hosted with the Netherlands) in 2000 after the group stage. Two years earlier, at the World Cup in France, they had also been knocked out at the first hurdle after three successive draws. Advertisement Browaeys had arrived in 1999, and in the years since has coached Belgium's teams at the under-15s, under-16s and under-17s levels, as well as serving as technical director of the national football federation. Back then, the Belgian game felt like it was in a rut. Browaeys and his colleagues drew up their plans. 'When we analysed the way we played, we had the odd skilful or creative player — Luc Nilis, Marc Degryse — but only one or two,' Browaeys remembers. 'The others were hard-working. We started with organisation, with a low block, but it clearly wasn't working in tournaments.' Belgium is relatively unique, split between the Dutch-speaking north (Flanders) and French-speaking south (Wallonia), regions with distinct cultural and social differences. The Belgian FA took inspiration from both — closely studying both the Cruyffian model of player development employed at Amsterdam's Ajax and the French elite academy based at Clairefontaine. Unlike these neighbouring nations, Belgium lacked a distinct footballing identity. But this was not an impediment to the men plotting its footballing future — they had a blank page to work with, not the burden of existing models and expectations. 'The starting point for us was not to become first in FIFA's rankings,' says Browaeys. 'It was to have a vision. In truth, we were a little jealous of the sophistication of the Netherlands' and France's youth development. So we asked how we could compete? And it came back to creativity. 'Football in the late 1990s and early 2000s had been more about tall guys, more like basketball players, but then there was a period of the return of the smaller players — like Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta. Also, it began to be about zonal football, rather than man-marking, so we decided to try and get ahead in developing intelligent players who could defend space. How could we get the brains into the muscles of the players? Advertisement 'We decided we would try to target these skilful, small players — players strong in one-on-ones and the 4-3-3.' There is an irony to producing creativity, which the Belgian coaches swiftly realised — to allow players the freedom to flourish, their teams had to be more structured and organised than ever, their vision built on certain non-negotiable principles. The first of these was the 4-3-3 formation — its diamonds borrowed from Johan Cruyff, and their Dutch neighbours to the north. It was introduced across Belgium's youth sides at every level. 'We wanted to develop wingers,' Browaeys explains. 'In the past, we played with a sweeper, a libero, and man-marked across the board. There was just one wide player on each side, and so it was just running, running, running. But we wanted to have two players on the wing, a regular winger and wide No 8s, so that we had more variation. The 4-3-3 was the most logical. There's a block of five more-defensive players, and five more-attacking players, who can play with offensive triangles. 'So then you come to the profiles — goalkeepers who can play out from the back, centre-backs who can penetrate with the ball when there is space, and wingers who are good in one-on-ones.' To help make the system second nature, Browaeys and his colleagues also reformed game sizes at youth level across Belgium. Previously, children played 11-a-side football from 10 years old onwards. But the FA coaches wanted to simplify things, focusing on the traits which really mattered for creativity — practising one-vs-ones and discovering diagonal passing lanes. In 2002, they settled on a three-stage progression — from five-a-side (a single diamond), to eight-a-side (a double-diamond), to the full 4-3-3 (adding an extra centre-back and wide attacking midfielders to the double-diamond). Advertisement 'The pitches were too big,' says Browaeys. 'And then before, we'd be playing with seven-a-side and nine-a-side. But with six outfield players, or eight outfield players, it is impossible to have diagonals — you place your players in two lines of three. 'So we wanted to introduce the diamond and double-diamonds — then there are one-vs-ones everywhere, from full-backs, to the wingers, to the midfield. You're always under pressure. Everything started from this — to dribble past a player but then give a good pass. 'Then, later on, we would add the extra players to practise the infiltration of the diamonds by the centre-backs and midfield — so there would be a logical progression from five (a side), to eight, to 11 in the 4-3-3.' Having placed players in the position to practise one-on-ones, this is where players were granted freedom — to try skills, to be unpredictable, to make mistakes. Coaches were asked to prioritise matchplay in small-sided games — developing players who excelled in one-on-one settings, such as, among many, Eden Hazard, Jeremy Doku and Leandro Trossard. 'What's fun for a kid?,' asks Browaeys. 'It's scoring goals. So there'd be loads of scoring opportunities, three-on-twos, one-v-ones — we didn't want exercises without goals, only with passing. And if you're fantastic at passing when you're eight years old, you will not dribble anymore. That's not what we want. But at five or six years old, if you can dribble, then when you have space, have time to look around and pay attention to the space, it's better. 'And so yes, creativity is still about making the right decision, but also giving them the right to get it wrong. I coached Jeremy Doku, a fantastic dribbler, but sometimes he'd make the wrong choice and try to dribble past four players. You can't tell him, 'Give the pass' — watch the video, chat with him, and let him find the answer himself.' Creativity was not limited to the attacking players — but also applied to centre-backs, who were encouraged to burst forward into midfield, or beat their man before playing the pass. Risk-management could be developed later — the instinct could not. Defender Thomas Vermaelen was an early example of this — a player who the Belgian FA were happy to see at Ajax's youth academy, with Dutch football further along in their player development at that moment. Advertisement To ensure their diamonds and coaching principles were installed across the nation, the Belgian FA focused on partnering with clubs and sports schools — massively increasing prospects' exposure to these methods, even outside of national-team camps. One beneficiary of this was a young Thibaut Courtois. 'I have a clip of Courtois at 14 years old,' says Browaeys. 'You would never say that he would become the best goalkeeper in the world — he's practising, and there's a lack of coordination with his right foot. 'He was the same age as Koen Casteels (the future Wolfsburg and Belgium goalkeeper), who was far taller, and seen as a far greater talent, because when you want to win games at under-15 or under-16 level, he would save all the balls that Courtois didn't. 'But we'd recognised Courtois' talent, and he was in our system of the top sports schools. It meant he had the time to develop, it meant he could double the hours he was practising — this is one of those clips, it's just repetition, repetition. 'Today, in the Flemish part, we have five of these top sports schools, with 230 players involved. It was not our objective to develop the best goalkeeper in the world — but to develop players with talent, and get them to the highest level we could.' Clubs were also allowed to develop their own projects, albeit with Belgian FA oversight. One of these was Anderlecht's Purple Talent initiative — which brought through players such as Romelu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans and Doku. Lukaku's father, Roger, was the first to suggest the idea to the Brussels club's academy in 2007. But all these ideas still took time to implement. By 2007, seven years after the low point of Euro 2000, Belgium had dropped to 71st in the world rankings. Internally, however, there was confidence — rather than focusing on the performance of the senior team, Browaeys and his colleagues were encouraged by the emergence of several talented individuals. Advertisement Their squad for the 2008 Olympics included several players who would go on to be key figures over the coming years, including Vincent Kompany, Vermaelen (both 22 years old), Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele (both 21) and Marouane Fellaini and Kevin Mirallas (both 20). Belgium got to the bronze-medal match in that tournament, but lost to Brazil. 'We also played in the semi-finals of the Under-17 European Championship in 2007 (losing to eventual winners Spain on penalties), with Eden Hazard, and we saw he was a very creative player. He later began to play together with Kevin De Bruyne, with Eden more on the left, Kevin more on the right. 'It was interesting, because they were both creative players, but in very different ways — one is creative at passing, the other is more creative when it comes to dribbling and counter-attacks. It showed the vision was working.' That era of players — those born between 1986 and 1992 — also included the likes of Courtois, Toby Alderweireld and Axel Witsel. Lukaku was one year younger. As these players matured, graduating into the senior national team, the media quickly began to refer to them as a golden generation. It could easily have been considered an irritating term at the Belgian FA, suggesting they were formed by fluke of birth, but the coaches relished what it showed about their talent development pathway. 'Belgium is a small country,' says Browaeys. 'We cannot lose any talent. France, England, Germany? They have a lot of players, it doesn't matter if they lose one. We cannot do that.' This attitude was encapsulated by the pathway of Dries Mertens, a winger who became a Napoli favourite during the 2010s, and is still playing for Galatasaray in Turkey at age 38. 'Mertens was a late developer,' Browaeys says. 'We could see he had the right skill profile, and he was in our very top sports school, but he was an incredibly late developer (physically). At 14 or 15, he was about 1.5m (4ft 11in) and 55kg (8st 9lb/121lb), playing against other early-maturing players who were 1.8m (5ft 11in) and 80kg (12st 8lb/176lb). It was such an unequal battle. Advertisement 'He had been released by first-division clubs, and so he first played in the third division as an 18-year-old but with the body of a 15-year-old. Everybody was convinced by the player — he was so skilful, wow! — but we did not know if he would succeed as a professional footballer. 'So what I did was call him up to the under-17s, where we played Austria, a tall, big team. And Mertens did not touch the ball for the whole game. He was just not ready. Later, I tried to convince the other age-group coaches to call him up, to take the risk, but nobody would pick somebody who was still in the third division. But eventually he grew, made it into the second division, and then broke through with (Dutch club) PSV. By the time he was 24 years old, he was an international player for Belgium. 'After Mertens, we began to ask what we could do. In 2008, we started the Future Project, where we put all the late developers together. 'At 15, 16 years old, it is logical that you want to play with early-developing players who can help you win games. But the object of development is to create players for the future — so the Future Project was about preparing high-potential players who were very skilful, with the right decision-making, and allowing them to play together. Puberty was going to come — everybody becomes an adult.' Though Mertens inspired the project, its first official graduate was Yannick Carrasco, a fellow winger who has gone on to win 78 caps for Belgium and help Atletico Madrid win La Liga in Spain and the Europa League and reach a Champions League final. Its current poster child is 24-year-old Atalanta forward Charles De Ketelaere. He came through the youth programme at Club Brugge, who Browaeys compliments for their work with him. At the Under-21 European Championship two years ago, five of Belgium's starting XI were graduates of the Future Project. Four of those five players had advanced in their development to such a degree they had already made their debuts for the senior national team by the time of that tournament. Belgium progressed gradually, and then suddenly. Having been 71st in summer 2007, in six years they went from 66th to first in the world rankings, reaching that mark in late 2015 — a period which included victories over the Netherlands, France, and Italy. Arguably their finest win came in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup, where they beat Brazil 2-1, before a 1-0 defeat to eventual champions France a round later. Advertisement A nation who had never won a major tournament — now with one of the most talented squads in the world game — sensed its chance. Ultimately, that group didn't ever reach a final, let alone win one — losing knockout-phase matches in heartbreaking fashion at the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016, the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020. After a group-stage exit from World Cup 2022, where a squad containing 11 players aged 30-plus won only one of their three games, they were beaten 1-0 by France in the round of 16 at the Euros last summer, though by then Belgium were no longer among the top tier of favourites. Every tournament brought its small moment — Kompany's pass against Argentina, set-piece defending against France, overconfidence in defeat to Wales. This was a group of players with the talent to win trophies, but who, on the day, failed to perform to their potential. Belgium is not alone in this. The legendary Hungary squad of the 1950s never won a tournament, nor did the Dutch team of the 1970s, but both are listed among the greatest teams in history. But were the Belgians underachievers given the talent at their disposal, or overachievers given where they started? Back at Tubize, Browaeys and the rest of the technical staff sat down after each tournament exit to analyse their development plans for the next cycle. That they remained so close to silverware was a sign of progress — Belgium had never previously been regular knockout contenders — but did they need to do things differently? 'You need to change the whole time,' says Browaeys. 'You need to keep analysing what football at the highest level looks like, and also to be a visionary. Today, I'm working with the generation born in 2008, who are 16 or 17 years old. So we're preparing them to be competitive in 2030, when they're 22 years old — but how will football look in five years? Advertisement 'We see matches are very high-intensity, with very skilful players, footballers who are no longer fixed in one position, and with a lot of overloads, but the overloads are always shifting from the wings to the centre. So it is crucial our talent-identification programme is based on the future game.' De Ketelaere is a good example of the next generation of Belgian players. Where once it developed players according to a fixed position in the preferred 4-3-3 setup, this urge to profile has been relaxed. Instead, versatility is prized — De Ketelaere can play across the front line, or as one of the two No 8s. 'We want three different types of midfield players, but for each to be versatile,' Browaeys says. 'And to develop wingers who can both come inside and play in the hole spaces, and wingers that can go on the outside.' He is also optimistic that Belgium's previous golden generation will themselves turn into successful coaches. Kompany, who has just led Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title in his debut season, is the first example, but others are likely to follow. During his time managing the senior national team from 2016 to 2022, Roberto Martinez introduced a scheme where his players could actively pursue their coaching badges in coalition with the Belgian FA. As that group now age out and retire, the senior team's transition is beginning to take shape — highlighted by the likes of De Ketelaere, Doku, Aston Villa's Amadou Onana (both 23), Romeo Lavia (21) of Chelsea and PSV's Johan Bakayoko (22). Younger still, two particular potential stars are currently in Brouwaey's under-17s squad: Genk's August De Wannemacker, a deep-lying playmaker, and centre-back Jorthy Mokio, who has already made his first-team debut, and scored his first senior goal, for Ajax. The veteran coach continues to teach the most difficult football, diamond by diamond. (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Mauricio Pochettino is bringing fight and focus back to the USMNT
There is something cosmically funny about all of this. Late last summer, the United States men's national team went out and hired the most qualified manager it could find. The one with the most impressive coaching resume far of anyone US Soccer had ever employed on the men's side. The most expensive, certainly. By a multiple. The man brought in to arrest the tailspin the USMNT had slowly slipped into after the 2022 World Cup. To finally unlock that elusive next level. To help a golden generation, or at least a shiny one, come good at last. To salvage something, anything, from a World Cup played mostly on home soil a year from now. Not to squander it all. And what should Mauricio Pochettino add to the US national team's brew of aptitudes and attitudes but pluck and grit? The very same underdog mentality, the ferocity and fitness, that had once taken the US from global laughingstocks to merely unembarrassing and then to internationally competitiveness. That sort of mindset had a ceiling, it was decided a decade and a half or so ago. And the Yanks kept on bumping their heads into it. So they hired Jürgen Klinsmann to sprinkle his fairy dust over the team, except he didn't understand how to execute his own lofty plans and dismantled the team's mentality-monster culture in the process. And then Gregg Berhalter brought it back for a bit, only to misplace it again. That was still more or less the shape the US was in three weeks ago. A mirthless two-loss debacle at the Concacaf Nations League in March. Two more defeats to Turkey and Switzerland, both playing at three-quarters speed, in early June. The Americans were underdogs again. Long shots. A soccer community mumbled to itself about those 10 regulars lost to rest and injuries and the Club World Cup. Since then, something elemental has been reclaimed. The USMNT are competitive again, proud again. By going back to basics. They ground out a 2-1 semi-final result against Guatemala in St Louis on Wednesday, courtesy of Diego Luna's 15-minute brace, to reach Sunday's Gold Cup final with Mexico in Houston on Sunday – a record 13th appearance in the regional title game. In the broad assessment of Pochettino's time in charge of the US – likely following the World Cup when he'll probably go chase after some other project, as is the wont of the most sought-after managers – Sunday's penalty shoot-out win over Costa Rica in the quarterfinal will likely loom large. The Americans prevailed in a feisty game, matching the intensity of an opponent intent on making a slugfest out of the bout, showing some personality at long last. On Tuesday, Pochettino elaborated on just how much he appreciated the urgency with which his team had rallied around Malik Tillman that day. The American attacking linchpin was taunted by some of his Tico opponents after missing a penalty, whereupon a big scuffle broke out involving the entire US team. 'It's the whole group,' Pochettino said, clearly delighted that the press conference had landed on the merits of a good scuffle. 'It's the keeper [Matt Freese] also, because he ran 100 meters to be in the fight. That was amazing. That means something. For me, I'm Argentino – we love to fight – that means a lot. 'That means that we are connected, that we care about my teammates,' Pochettino continued. 'That needs to be natural between them. We can select 26 players, but to be a team is a different thing.' He liked, the Argentine said, that after four weeks together, team meals were lively. That the three tables the USMNT eats at have an energy sparking between them that makes them feel like one. Or something. 'That is a spontaneous situation that you cannot force, you cannot push,' said Pochettino. The long and short of it is the Americans are a team again. Certainly, there is sophistication at work in their run to the Gold Cup final as well. This incarnation of the USMNT is increasingly well-drilled in its defensive organization and attacking patterns. A team that was inexperienced and unfamiliar a month ago moves as a unit, shifts shapes in transition, zings the ball around cleanly. Within a clear structure, there is room for Tillman and Luna to express themselves, to roam and to assert their influence both creatively and as the team's high pressers. The Americans have scored some wonderfully well worked goals in this tournament. The victory over Guatemala made for a strange sort of game. The US were utterly dominant early and ran out to a quick 2-0 lead, only to spend the rest of the game defending it increasingly frantically against the world's 106th-ranked team, getting outshot 20-12. Before a heavily pro-Guatemalan crowd at Energizer Park in St Louis, one of the spiritual homes of the American game, Guatemala played in their first Gold Cup semi-final in 29 years. They turned up with a roster that was domestically based but for six players active in the US and Canada and one each in Romania and Moldova. These were not pedigreed players, yet their countrymen in the stands roared for a second successive upset, after Los Chapines dispatched Canada on penalties in the last round. 'Today, I need to tell you, it was like to play in Guatemala, in Tegucigalpa,' said Pochettino. 'And that was good for our players, because it was an atmosphere we didn't expect.' In the fourth minute, Luca de la Torre shot from outside the box, following a long, crisp American buildup. Luna snuck ahead of his marker, José Rosales, snagged the rebound and then tucked it past Kenderson Navarro. Ten minutes later, Luna ran at the box, beat his man with a stepover and located a crack of space and time to rip his shot past Navarro at the near post. From that point, Guatemala would be the aggressors, forcing several strong saves by Freese and seeing a goal disallowed as it put ever more attackers on the field. In the 80th minute, 18-year-old Olger Escobar found some room in the American area and finally beat Freese to narrow the score, provoking a furious final assault. Few things in soccer are quite as dangerous as an unchained team, playing for the equalizer with absolutely nothing to lose. Still the US held on, avoiding the penalty lottery that nearly undid them in the previous round, collecting just enough clearances and disrupted Guatemalan attacks to see out the clock. Perhaps there was something slightly undignified in clinging on against a team that, on paper, ought not be a threat. The other interpretation is that it was a sign of growth. 'It's the grit, it's the determination that we've been lacking, to be honest,' Luna told Fox. 'It's fighting to the end, every ball, every moment.' Presently, it's no use arguing with the USMNT's pint-sized scrapper. For he has come to embody its new ethos. Leander Schaerlaeckens is at work on a book about the United States men's national soccer team, out in 2026. He teaches at Marist University.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
New DNA needs old genes: Is the world's biggest club facing a downfall?
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here. Today, Luka Modric will play his last game for Real Madrid. With the 39-year-old's departure, one of the last Royals who embodied the unshakable winning gene of the world club is stepping down. After a trophyless season, the question arises in the Spanish capital: Will the new DNA successfully come together, or is the biggest club in the world facing a spectacular fall? 'Remontada' was the buzzword in the Madrid cosmos before the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Arsenal. A spectacular comeback. If any team could overturn a 3-goal deficit from the first leg, it was Real Madrid. A sense of certainty that stood on the sidelines in the 73rd minute in the person of Luka Modric. The Croatian took to the pitch at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu to the sound of longing cheers – only to watch as Gabriel Martinelli scored the 2-1 winner in stoppage time. The end for the record champions. The radiance of the last member of a golden generation was no longer enough to turn the tide. The same was true for the race for the Spanish championship and the cup. Both titles went to archrival FC Barcelona. In two memorable matches, Madrid let a lead slip away each time. How could this happen? It certainly wasn't due to a lack of individual quality. Not for Modric, nor for Real. 🇭🇷📦⚽ ¡GOLAZOS traídos desde Zadar!@lukamodric10 | #Modrić2024 — Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) June 26, 2023 The Eastern European folk hero continued to prove, even in his 40th year, that he could still conjure up magical passes and dream goals from his aging body. Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti's star-studded ensemble gained another high-flyer in Kylian Mbappé. But instead of (inter)national dominance, the first season with the Frenchman ended in a trophyless disgrace. Of course, the numerous injuries certainly didn't help. But there was a similar crisis in the previous season as well. Still, in the end, the Champions League trophy was presented at the Cibeles Fountain for the 15th time. Then Toni Kroos retired. Dani Carvajal suffered a cruciate ligament injury in October. Now Modric and Ancelotti are bowing out. Undoubtedly, Thibaut Courtois, Antonio Rüdiger, or Vinicius Jr. also know exactly how to belt out '¡Hala Madrid!' as off-key as possible with silverware on their laps atop a double-decker bus. But over the years, the number of those who know all the words has steadily decreased. Who will deliver a fresh injection of winner's arrogance? 📸 KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV - AFP or licensors Xabi Alonso! At least, that's the hope of the estimated 41 million Madridistas in Europe alone. The Spanish World and European champion is the logical choice. As a former player, he knows every doormat in the club and has left an impressive trail of success both as a player and now as a coach. On Monday, the Leverkusen title-maker will take up his post, and all eyes will be on him. Ahead of him lies perhaps the most difficult task in world football since the mission to return to the top in a northern German Hanseatic city. The hierarchy must be restructured. Even the 43-year-old coach must first assert his own standing. Personnel-wise, a major upheaval must be managed, while every game is still expected to be won. Oh yes, and it should all look great, of course. Some unpleasant decisions will have to be made. What will happen with David Alaba or Eder Militao? In what shape will the 33-year-old Carvajal return? Will a potential successor to Modric be brought in? 📸 JAVIER SORIANO His stoic calm will be interpreted by the (Spanish) press as inactivity at every little opportunity. The architect of Laterkusen will hardly care. The confidence of victory belongs to the two-time Champions League winner just as much as his stylish appearance. Both have been in short supply at his new employer lately. In just under three weeks, at the Club World Cup, the turnaround will begin. A lasting dip in success – or even a crash – for the world's biggest club will not happen. At least Luka Modric will be convinced of that, with near absolute certainty. 📸 Angel Martinez - 2025 Getty Images
