Marc Wilmots can lead Belgium to great things in Brazil and at Euro 2016

Belgium have the players to become a real force

Every so often a country brings through a golden generation and Marc Wilmots has all the tools at his disposal to go far with the current Belgian squads writes Alex Johnson...

The Belgian FA have recently announced that current national team head coach, Marc Wilmots, has signed a four-year contract extension.

His current contract which was due to expire at the end of the World Cup in Brazil, but the country's football bosses are keen for him to continue in the role.

Wilmots has been in charge of the national team since taking over from Georges Leekens in 2012 - Wilmots worked alongside Leekens as assistant coach.

This World Cup is Belgium's first major tournament since the 2002 tournament in Japan/South Korea and the Belgian FA have been delighted with the progress the squad has made so far under Wilmots, and how the future is looking beyond this tournament.

It has been said that Belgian football is going through something of a renaissance with a number of talented players at their disposal, who all seemed to have come through the ranks together. A few of these talents have been snapped up by various foreign clubs at some sky high prices, others will follow, perhaps after the World Cup campaign.

Wilmots is key to the progress that Belgium can make and the Belgian FA have realised this. There is no doubt that the 45-year-old was also being courted by some of Europe's major clubs as their next manager, so to add his experience with this group of players can been seen as a major coup.

The Belgian national side has often been seen as a fractured group, so to bring unity to a small nation which is divided by language (56% speak Flemish - which is part-Dutch by dialect - and 44% speak French) and largely due to this division, no-one seemed bothered about the Belgian national football team, but the former Standard Liege midfielder has contributed to a remarkable turnaround.

According to defender Jan Vertonghen there was once a match in Finland, in the lull period following the 2002 World Cup, where the Belgian travelling support was zero, such was the apathy towards the team.

Wilmots had a few coaching jobs after his playing career finished, plus he had a stab at being a football agent. He also tried to make a complete career change and ventured into politics when he became a senator for the French-speaking Liberal party, the Reformist Movement. However, his political career was not very successful and he resigned in 2005.

It was Dutch coach Dick Advocaat who announced Wilmots as his assistant when he became coach in 2009. The experienced tactician claimed that Wilmots had "energy bubbling out of his ears.".

Advocaat was soon tempted by an offer from Russia, so the Belgian FA went with the tried and tested Leekens, and he kept Wilmots as his number two.

Leekens resigned in 2012 when he felt he couldn't get the best from the up and coming talented squad, plus the fact that Belgium had dropped to number 62 in the FIFA world rankings. Nobody wanted the Belgian job and Wilmots was happy to remain as assistant, it was the players that ultimately made the case for the man from Dongleberg.

For the squad to give you the backing to be the manager of the national team must mean a lot, not only to the Football Association, but also to you - it's recognition that your methods have been accepted and that they can happily work under your direction. Wilmots appears to have earn this approval and respect in spades and some.

It's clear that Belgian football is getting better, slowly but surely, although, just like in South America, the best talent is being forced out of the national leagues and made to play all over the world. Some may say this helps develop the players, makes them more educated in footballing terms, and of course the huge salaries help.

This is demonstrated in the case of three top Belgian stars, Eden Hazard at Chelsea, Vincent Kompany at Manchester City and Zenit St Petersburg's Axel Wisel, who signed in a deal worth 40 million euros when he moved to Russia. All three are top earners at their clubs.

As Wilmots has been loyal to these players, they have given him loyalty in return and pride in the shirt and this has seen a real upturn in results, especially since 2012.

Wilmots has youth on his side in terms of the up and coming players as well. The talented Kevin De Bruyne is a starter on a regular basis, the 22-year-old is enjoying his football with the national side, after a frustrating spell with Premier League club Chelsea.

Romelu Lukaku, who was leading scorer in the Belgian league when he was aged just 16, has been asked to lead the line during the World Cup tournament, after Aston Villa's Christian Benteke was ruled out with an Achilles injury likely to keep him out until the New Year.

The Belgian FA developed a blueprint some time ago with regards to a 4-3-3 system, something which Wilmots uses the majority of the time, although he does tend to alter to a 4-1-4-1 formation at times, with Witsel sat in front of the back four. The attacking four or three are then able to find space.

The only question posed to this talented squad is in defence. Thibaut Courtois is a outstanding first-choice goalkeeper but the back four, with the exception of Kompany, is perhaps not as talented as the squad's attacking force.

Wilmots still relies on the veteran centre-half Daniel Van Buyten of Bayern Munich to partner Kompany. He also calls upon natural centre-halves Toby Alderweireld and Thomas Vermaelen as full-backs. This is Belgium's only real issue, that they could end up playing with four centre-halves along the back line.

Germany coach, Joachim Low, has gone on record to say that his second favourite team are the Belgians and with some luck they could make this World Cup tournament into a real outstanding one for Wilmots.

Even if things don't pan out as Belgium hope, and many predict, then the European Championships in France in two years time is another target to set their sights on.