Naturally, after his one-man act against Hungary, the focus will be on the captain and the face of the Belgian team. The Garden of Eden Hazard, the best player in his position as some may have you believe but I disagree, although when he plays like he against Hungary it's a compelling argument.
Tonight presents another test for this hyped team to show if they are the real deal. They have yet to convince me of their credentials and if they're deserving of the tag of favorites. It's also a chance for Hazard to prove that the Hungarian game wasn't just a flavor of the year situation.
This should be a very different game for Belgium and for Hazard. They know Wales from the qualifiers, but they also are calm in the fact that this is a whole other ball of wax. A European Quarter-Final, with a lot of their fans in the stadium and this being a far higher-stakes game. Belgium will be confident that they'll play a much better game than they did in Cardiff, but tactically is where they should pause for thought.
Again, we've got to look at Hazard. He was allowed to run around like a pixie let loose because Hungary allowed him to. When Hazard is allowed to roam with little to no resistance, he can look like one of the best plaeyrs in the world. The freedom that Hazard had will not occur against Wales.
He should expect Coleman's team to be more defensive and particularly try and rough him up. That means he'll need to adjust his game, being more evasive and making use of every time he gets the ball, making it count for something.
I was happy to give Hazard all his plaudits for his Hungarian performance. It would have been very haterish of me to put an asterisk next to it, mentioning it was against Hungary and they gave him far too much space for a game of that magnitude. But a good performance is still a good performance and you've got to praise it. So I did, but I must see more before a proclaim him a truly world-class, elite player.
The Welsh encounter I like because this means Hazard will have to readjust his game. I want to know whether he can and how successful he will be at doing so. Can he still be effective when defenders are more tight with him and when the opposing team deny the space and are far more organized as a defensive unit?
This should be a fun game I think with Belgium controlling the possession and trying to break down Wales, which is what their qualification games were like, but came to no avail. Hazard will play a big part in this type of attrition and will be needed to be that guiding light in delivering that important through ball that opens up Wales and give them the goal. HH
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