The Transition Is Complete
Domenico Tedesco named Belgium's World Cup squad on May 24, and the generational shift that began in 2022 is now complete. Hazard is retired. Lukaku, at 31, is in the squad but no longer the focal point. Courtois is still there in goal. But the team that Tedesco has built is different from the Hazard-era Belgium — more structured, less reliant on individual brilliance, better organized without the ball.
De Bruyne leads. At 35, he remains one of the best midfielders in the world — his vision, his passing range, and his ability to change a match's tempo are intact. But Belgium now need the players around him to contribute more than they did in the golden generation, where De Bruyne, Hazard, and Lukaku could carry matches that the rest of the squad couldn't win. This version of Belgium has to work as a team.
Group K and the Canada Question
Group K puts Belgium against Canada — co-hosts with Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) and Jonathan David (Lille) — plus Cameroon and Honduras. Belgium are the group favorites on paper. But Canada has Premier League and top-division European players throughout their squad, and the co-host effect (crowd support, tournament familiarity) gives them genuine momentum. Belgium cannot treat Group K as automatic.