New Belgium Coach Tedesco Drops Witsel And Mertens For Euro 2024 Qualifier
Muhammad Rameez Published March 17, 2023 | 08:35 PM
New Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco on Friday omitted Axel Witsel and Dries Mertens from the squad to face Sweden in a Euro 2024 qualifier on March 24 and a friendly against Germany four days later
Tubize, Belgium, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Mar, 2023 ) :New Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco on Friday omitted Axel Witsel and Dries Mertens from the squad to face Sweden in a Euro 2024 qualifier on March 24 and a friendly against Germany four days later.
After the international retirement of Eden Hazard, Simon Mignolet and Toby Alderweireld, Tedesco has plumped for a flush of youth to make up for the disappointment of Belgium's first-round exit at last year's World Cup in Qatar.
The 34-year-old Witsel, capped 130 times, is the biggest casualty of that policy, Tedesco saying the decision to drop the Atletico Madrid player was "extremely tough".
"We have a lot of young midfielders and we want to see what they're capable of," added Tedesco.
"But I'm certainly not shutting the door on Axel. I hope he won't retire from the international stage." Only two of the 24 squad members play in the Belgian league: the Anderlecht pair of Jan Vertonghen and Zeno Debast.
Eight, meanwhile, ply their trade in the English Premier League.
Squad in full: Goalkeepers: Koen Casteels (Wolfsburg/GER), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid/ESP), Thomas Kaminski (Blackburn/ENG), Matz Sels (Strasbourg/FRA) Defenders: Sebastiaan Bornauw (Wolfsburg/GER), Timothy Castagne (Leicester/ENG), Zeno Debast (Anderlecht), Wout Faes (Leicester/ENG), Thomas Meunier (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Alexis Saelemaekers (AC Milan/ITA), Arthur Theate (Rennes/FRA), Jan Vertonghen (Anderlecht)Midfielders: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/ENG), Romeo Lavia (Southampton/ENG), Orel Mangala (Nottingham Forest/ENG), Amadou Onana (Everton/ENG), Dennis Praet (Leicester/ENG)Forwards: Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Charles De Ketelaere (AC Milan/ITA), Jeremy Doku (Rennes/FRA), Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan/ITA), Dodi Lukebakio (Hertha Berlin/GER), Lois Openda (Lens/FRA), Leandro Trossard (Arsenal/ENG)
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