The Spanish Robert Martinez (Balaguer, Lleida, 1973), Belgium coach, praises in an interview with EFE the “emotional control” of Thibaut Courtois that makes him a goalkeeper “who wins points”. He breaks down the “atypical” player that is Kevin de Bruyne and warns not to “forget the golden generation of Belgian football” too soon.
‘Bob’ Martínez analyzes all the proper names of the team that he directs and maintains, since October 2018, in the first position of the FIFA ranking, the third that has been in that position the longest. De Eden Hazard assures that “no” they have “lost” him despite his lack of prominence at Real Madrid and ponders the “maturity” of Yannick Carrasco in his second stage at Atlético de Madrid.
Question: Belgium has been leading the FIFA ranking for almost three and a half years, did you expect it when you arrived?
Answer: What I did not expect was to be so long. When I went to Belgium it was for a period of two years, to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. From there, the intention was to return to a club bench. But the chemistry and the human quality of this group, like the individual talent, immerse you in what is the next step. That was to reach number 1. A country of 11 million inhabitants, that can be all that consecutive time at number 1 suggests what this soccer generation deserves.
From there, it was to qualify for the European Championship and now do the World Cup. And combine the role of technical director, which gives me a day to day. After 10 years in British football, I needed that day in and day out. Without this, I would not have been able to continue in international football for the six seasons I have been in because that other part of being able to work with young people and with the evolution of Belgian football was a very important part.
Q: You are a soccer man, is there more stomping now?
A: In modern football you want to defend up front, very quickly; There is a lot of work that is done without the ball and that is why, perhaps, there is a little more invasion of space than the footballer has with the ball. But the contact has always existed, what there are now are better pitches, the ball is more in playâ.
Q: You play with three center backs almost always. Will you continue down that line?
A: Our system was circumstantial in order to have a place in the team with four very high-level central defenders. When I get to the Belgian team it is with a line of four, against Spain, in a match in which we are very well beaten by Spain and at that moment we had to change.
We had Kompany, Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Vermaelen; four world-class centre-backs. We developed the system from there, and we didn’t have specific full-backs to play the role we need in an attacking team like ours. The three central system came in handy for us, but it can be adapted to the players we have. We are based more on the idea of the game and on the concepts rather than being slaves to a scheme.
Q: I imagine the next step is to go from a breakout pick to another higher level. Do you have to work psychologically in these months until Qatar 2022?
A: Winning a World Cup is something that when you have to do it for the first time, you need specific psychological work. When you are a player part of a team that has already won a World Cup, it is in the writing and it is much easier to focus on what you have to achieve. We are working with a very clear idea, which is to get the most out of this generation, which is very special at all levels.
Also the power to speed up the development process of the young generation that comes from behind. In March it is a great opportunity for us because we have two friendlies and we have to make sense of it; so we will work with players with less than 50 caps to give them the opportunity to lead and experiment without the advice of players who have been in the national team for 12 or 13 years.
Q: Let’s get into proper names. How Yannick Carrasco has grown in his second spell at Atlético after leaving for China. Do you see a job by Simeone that has been good for you?
A: From Belgium, Yannick’s second stage at Atlético has been followed with great affection. It was something that everyone was very curious about. Just like when he decides to leave Spain and go to Chinese soccer, it was seen as a step of great authority and wanting to show that he could lead a sports project. When he returns to Atlético, it is the stage of great maturity for him. He had a very direct part in winning the league title.
He has seen a touch of maturity that can go very well for the national team. Even in the Nations League he scores a very important goal against France, showing a position of great responsibility within the team.
Q: What does De Bryune have that the average fan can’t see?
A: Kevin de Bruyne is probably a very unusual player. We are used to seeing the player who executes that final pass, who has the great vision of the game; We always think that these players need their time to execute the actions, but Kevin de Bruyne does it the other way around, he speeds up the tempo of the game. He is a creative player very different from what we understand, with great technical ability, but above all because of the vision he has for spaces and finding the time to give the ball. He is now in a team that fights for everything, he is in the best moment of his sports career. It is very difficult to find another player who can give that role to another team.
Q: We see Courtois every week in Spain, which has had exponential growth and that was already good before. It even generates a feeling of frustration in rivals.
A: I think he has been at this level for many seasons. He won the award for best goalkeeper in the 2018 World Cup. His arrival at Real Madrid was a bit difficult, but the consistency he has had is that of a goalkeeper who earns points in very decisive actions. He has an emotional control that is not normal. The great ability that Courtois has is, in addition to everything he can do in goal, that emotional calm that he can give his teammates the way he controls the moments of a match. I have seen Thibaut Courtois at the level of the best goalkeepers in the world, if not the best.
Q: I imagine that a stimulus for the World Cup will be to get Eden Hazard back.
A: We need Eden Hazard. We have not lost it internationally. At club level he does not have the relevance or the important role that he has always given to clubs, but his goal is still to be important for the team and help the team. Eden is a person who is very clear and rational, he doesn’t have an ego that blinds him to what he wants to do. But at the national team level, he is our captain and we fully trust him.
It is true that we have a slightly different situation eight months before the World Cup. We really don’t know how many players will be affected by changing clubs or not. And in Eden’s situation, we see her along the same lines. For us he is not a player that we have lost. He is still our captain and we hope that he can recover that physical form at the match level because now it is seen that his objective is not shared with the club.
Q: Another proper name that is going through a complicated situation. Romelu Lukaku. Does it seem strange to you that it doesn’t find its place in Tuchel’s scheme?
A: We always understood Romelu’s situation as a step that he wanted to take. He wanted to return to Chelsea, it was a team where he had been, but where he had not won titles; and he wanted to get that. Chelsea is the team that wins the ‘Champions’ without playing with a fixed ‘9’ and it can be understood that it is one of the options that the coach considers. Romelu is calm, focused and has had important moments at Chelsea this year, but the important thing is going to happen in the next three months.
Q: You know Henry very well, because he is your assistant. There is a player who is compared to him, Kylian Mbappé. Have they ever talked about him?
A: Right now he is one of the players who can make a difference. He is a very difficult player to stop. Sometimes we have conversations because Henry has a bit of a connection to leaving Monaco, he has followed him very closely, they are probably more different than people think, but there are similarities in his game. The goal that he scores against Real Madrid in Paris, there are very few players who can do it at the moment; and that is the great virtue.
Q: You have analyzed the great figures of the golden generation of Belgian football. Do they have relief?
A: What’s nice is that we’re always obsessed with preparing our young players so that one day they can stuff these players’ boots, but nothing prepares you for that. The talent is there, it will always be in Belgium because it is a very soccer-loving nation, there is a lot of diversity that helps the formation of the soccer player, they work very well in the under-15 and under-18 ages to develop that talent; but without the meticulous step that this generation has had, it is very difficult to assess where it can go.
We have a name of great quality, of a great stimulus. Charles De Ketelaere has played in the ‘Champions’ at a very young age and made his debut for the national team, Jérémy Doku had a great European Championship… talent will always exist in Belgium, but it’s important that we don’t want to forget the golden generation too soon. It is a unique generation and very difficult to repeat.
Q: You mentioned diversity. This generation was born when the Federation opened the door in 2002 to players born in Belgium but of foreign parents.
A: The selection is a reflection of what Belgian society is. Belgium has three official languages, with only 11 million inhabitants. Cycling and football are part of the life of the Belgian person. The national team’s wardrobe is a reflection of what Belgian society is; to have a lot of respect. It’s very nice to see this dressing room, which is similar to what you can see in the Premier League; it is what gives you the ability to play modern football.