Belgium

Belgium have spent the better part of a decade carrying the weight of a golden generation that glittered without ever fully shining. They arrived at Russia 2018 with a squad so gifted it felt almost unfair — De Bruyne pulling strings, Lukaku bulldozing defences, Hazard dancing through entire back lines — and they left with bronze and a nagging, beautiful question: what if? Four years later in Qatar, they shuffled out in the group stage, the magic visibly curdling, the dressing room reportedly fractured. The dream, it seemed, had curdled into something sadder.

But here they are again in 2026, and this time the stakes feel almost unbearably human. For several of these men, this is genuinely the last waltz. Lukaku is in his thirties and still thunderously hungry. De Bruyne, arguably the finest midfielder of his generation, has never lifted the one trophy that would complete the story. There is grief baked into their optimism, which somehow makes it more compelling, not less.

The saving grace is that youth has arrived alongside the veterans. Jérémy Doku, electric and fearless on the left flank, gives Belgium something they have sometimes lacked — genuine, reckless pace that defences simply cannot prepare for. If the old guard can hold themselves together long enough, and if Doku can set the tournament alight, Belgium could make this farewell tour into something truly worth remembering.