Our prediction for this World Cup 2026 match:
All eyes will be on King Baudouin Stadium when Belgium and Czech Republic face each other in the Group E derby. The Red Devils aim to build on a 5-2 win over Estonia, and they are likely to stick to their attacking style of play. Even though both Dries Mertens and Kevin de Bruyne are sidelined with injuries, we believe that home win should be considered as Roberto Martinez has strength in depth.
A man to watch in the home team will be Chelsea summer signing Romelu Lukaku, who scored a brace in the midweek triumph. The Czechs, on the other hand, are still without key attacker Patrik Shick, who has yet to serve his ban. Jaroslav Silhavy’s troops were anything but impressive in the 1-0 win over Belarus, which is yet another reason why we are tempted to put our money on the hosts.
Highlighted Player (Romelu Lukaku):
Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli, born on 13th of ay 1993 is a Belgian player with roots form Congo. Lukaku played for several youth teams before he got picked up by RSC Anderlecht. After playing for only 2 seasons for Anderlecht Chelsea picked him up for around12 million euro.
Lukaku was never able to get a spot in the starting eleven of Chelsea and after playing for WBA he moved to Everton for approximately 35 million euro.Lukaku made his debut in February 2010 by the age of 16 and is one of the youngest players that player for the highest Belgian national team.
The biggest achievement of Lukakui is winning the Eerste klasse in Belgium and the English FA Cup. With his strength and goal scoring abilities Lukaku can be considered as one of the deadliest strikers of the world. Nicknames for Lukaku are Big Rom and the Tank.
Highlighted Team (Czech Republic):
Czech Republic national team is the natural successor of the Czechoslovakia side that dominated world football during the 20th century, winning one European Championship trophy and coming second at 1934 and 1962 World Cups. After the separation of the country in 1992, Czech Republic continued the proud tradition by qualifying for each of the next six European Championship finals, losing to Germany in the final of the 1996 tournament.
The Czechs also reached the last eight at the 2012 finals, but their World Cup record of late is pretty disappointing. Since separating from Slovakia, Czech Republic only qualified for one of five World Cup finals. The 1996 generation, featuring players like Pavel Nedved, Karel Poborsky and Patrik Berger, will forever remained etched in the fans’ memory, while the likes of Milan Baros, Jan Koller, Petr Cech and Tomas Rosicky are some of the other notable footballers.
Highly rated goalkeeper Petr Cech is the team’s most capped player, whereas towering forward Jan Koller tops the goalscoring charts with 55 strikes in 91 games.