World European Preliminaries - Wales VS Belgium: "Double Red Club", a crucial battle, no one can afford to lose

Group J of the European Group Stage of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers is currently in a stalemate. Among the three teams of Belgium, Wales and North Macedonia, any one of them may advance directly to the first place in the group, or they may be eliminated third in the group.

North Macedonia currently leads the Group J standings with 12 points from 6 games, 3 wins, 3 draws and unbeaten. Belgium ranks second with 11 points from 5 games, 3 wins, 2 draws and unbeaten. Wales ranks third with 10 points from 5 games, 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

On the latest match day, North Macedonia will face Kazakhstan at home. It should be said that scoring all 3 points is a piece of cake. Then the battle between Wales and Belgium will be extremely brutal. The winner can keep second place and press North Macedonia. After all, they have one game less and the point difference is not big. There is a chance to win the first place in the group. Those who lose lose the initiative to compete for the top two spots. A tie? Then North Macedonia will benefit.

In the last two rounds, Wales' schedule is relatively difficult. In the next round, they will play an away game against Liechtenstein, and in the last round they will face North Macedonia at home. Belgium's schedule is relatively easy. It won't be a big problem to get all 3 points in the next round of away game against Kazakhstan. In the last round of home game against Liechtenstein, it will not only be 3 points but also a goal difference.

Therefore, whether Wales can enter the 2026 World Cup depends on whether it can defeat its strong rival Belgium at home this round.

Wales VS Belgium

Nature of the match: Round 8 of Group J of the European Group Stage of the World Cup

Match time: 2:45 on October 14

Wales, nicknamed the Red Dragon, is currently ranked 30th in the world by FIFA, with a total team value of 169 million euros. 24-year-old forward Brennan Johnson, currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur, is worth 40 million euros and is the most valuable player in Wales.

Belgium, nicknamed the European Red Devils, is currently ranked 8th in the world by FIFA, with a total team value of 493 million euros. The most expensive players are worth 50 million euros. Two of them include 23-year-old forward Doku, who currently plays for Manchester City; and 24-year-old midfielder Amadou Onana, who plays for Aston Villa.

At the pre-match press conference, Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia said: "We have all the conditions to win the game. What if we can't win? At least get one point. This is also a positive and useful result, which will help to finally win the first place in the group. We will not fight for a draw, this is not our style, we We are here to win. The biggest pressure is given by ourselves. Here we have the opportunity to show our strength. We are ready and full of motivation. We have only one goal: to win the game and control our own destiny."

Wales has 5 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses in all competitions.

Belgium has 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses in the past 10 games in all competitions. In the last round of world preliminaries, it was tied 0:0 by North Macedonia at home.

In the past 10 meetings between the two sides, Wales was at the disadvantage with 2 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses.

In this battle, Belgium is more promising.

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