Progression key for Belgium as attention turns to Euro 2016

In that time frame, the Three Lions never managed to surpass a quarter-final in major international tournaments. Belgium, of course, reached that stage this summer before Argentina overcame them thanks to Gonzalo Higuain’s instinctive strike – they’ll be hoping that doesn’t set the same precedent England suffered.

The good news for Belgium’s burgeoning squad is that the average age of their team was the third youngest at the finals. Only one player was over the age of 30, and that was 36-year-old veteran Daniel van Buyten.

On the strength of that statistic, the Belgian squad could be viewed as too inexperienced to truly challenge on the grandest stage. Two years on from now however, should Wilmots select the exact same squad, minus Van Buyten, only one player would be over the age of 30 –Nicolas Lombaerts of Zenit St Petersburg.

As their group games at the World Cup suggested, this is a young, promising team, still finding its rhythm and identity at this juncture.

So far, it could be argued that it’s simply a group of high calibre players meshed into one team. Until they have a collective style of sorts, the potency required to thrive in the international arena may continue to allude them.

The chopping and changing of Dries Mertens and Kevin Mirallas on the right-hand side, as well as the switching of Lukaku and Origi suggested Wilmots may have not, truly known his best XI, or the plethora of options challenged his judgement.

With regards to the future, Belgium’s youth sides have not fared so well in recent memory. The Under-21 outfit have not qualified for the UEFA Under-21 Championship since their semi-final appearance back in 2007, making them absent from the last three.

Their 2007 team incidentally featured the likes of Fellaini, Witsel, Vermaelen and Vertonghen to name a few.

Unfortunately, the well has run dry recently, with the Under-19 side also struggling for results. They haven’t qualified for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup since 1997, meaning they have just completed their ninth unsuccessful qualifying campaign on the bounce.

While the progression of their youth teams may have stalled, names like Zakaria Bakkali (PSV) and recent arrival at Marseille Michy Batshuayi aged 18 and 20 respectively, are players worth keeping an eye on as they hover around the first-team picture.

The young nature of Wilmots’ squad indicates the youth levels of Belgian football have been bypassed in recent times and they’ve headed straight for the main stage.

This tactic may serve Belgium well in the long run, assuming the wealth of talent can be arranged correctly. If so, Coral believe at 16/1 the Belgians are joint sixth favourites alongside Italy to lift the World Cup in 2018, as Russia play hosts.