Roberto Martinez will be under a massive pressure in Russia as he has the honour of leading the golden generation of Belgian players. The Red Devils enter the competition as one of the shadow favourites to go all the way this summer, but can the star-studded line-up live up to the ambitions?The opening match will not produce the answer to that given the European hopefuls are to take on the likes of Panama. Los Canaleros are actually the only debutants in this edition of the tournament having shockingly secured their tickets for Russia on the expense of United States who only came fifth at the end of the final round in the CONCACAF qualifying zone.
Panama managed a huge comeback to secure the 2-1 victory over Costa Rica thanks to the 87th-minute match winner on the final day. United States lost their away fixture to Trinidad & Tobago with the same result even though their counterparts had already lost all hopes of qualifying.Panama have played eight friendly outings ever since, winning only two in the process. The lack of the attacking potential is obvious and one should not be shocked to learn that they’ve only scored once in last five internationals. The main strength for Los Canaleros is their head coach Hernan Gomez who has the World Cup experience having led Colombia and Ecuador at the big stage competitions back in 1998 and 2002.
Belgium definitely do not share similar woes with the likes of Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Dries Mertens in their ranks. They have the world-class quality all over the place, starting from Thibaut Courtois to Romelu Lukaku. They boasted the best attacking record in the European Qualification zone having bagged as many as 43 goals in 10 matches.