Belgium forward Eden Hazard has accepts that the world eyes will be on him at the World Cup, especially now that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been eliminated from the tournament.
Hazard with all smiles said that he believes that this his time to shine as gears up for Belgium round of 16 encounter with Japan Today.
It was so historical last Saturday as the two dominated world best over a decade now crashed out of the World cup, Ronaldo and Messi were eliminated from the round of 16 by Uruguay and France respectively as the superstars are yet to win the most coveted Trophy in the world.
Hazard has been aiming to be named among the likes of Ronaldo and Messi as World most valuable player over the years.
Eden Hazard at 27 has capped many matches for his National team with 24 goals to his name, the Chelsea playmaker has boosted his teammates to believe they can go all the way in lifting the World cup if they can keep calm and follow game by game with caution and dedication. So far he has been doing a collective play with his National teammates with his tricks and pace.
During a pre-match conference, Hazard said (It is time to shine definitely, we have top players, I think now it is in our hands).
Belgium Coach Roberto Martinez has also believed that this opportunity cannot be over emphasized.
The Coach said, (The champions of Europe Portugal are out, the world champions Germany are also out, I think the team is in a very good way, mentally and physically. You just get the feeling the players are desperate to be on the pitch. When you create that competitive nature, all you see is players who are ready and desperate to contribute).
The Red Devils have all bowed out against Argentina in recent World cup outing of which they were eliminated by the South American side after beating Belgium 2-0 through Argentine great Maradona, Belgium also lost to same Argentina in last World cup at the quarter final in Brazil, and Martinez assured such record won’t repeat itself again this time around.
Eden Hazard assured Belgium supporters of their seriousness not to bow out at this stage as other tournament had been, he still recall losing to Whales at the quarter finals in 2016 at the European Championship, Hazard believe that the current Belgium team are more experienced and matured to compete in all fronts to exceed the quarter final stage.
Hazard continues, (I’m a better player than I was two years ago, better than I was four years ago in Brazil, that’s for sure. It was our first major competition together four years ago in Brazil, and Euro 2016 was our second, It’s harder when you have a younger team, even if you have good players. But I think now everyone has reached the summit of their career. We are all between 25 and 32 years old. So, in terms of maturity we are all ready, and I think that makes the difference).
The Chelsea forward has netted two goals so far at the World cup and has assisted Romelu Lukaku, who is on same number of goals with Cristano Ronaldo, with just one behind England Harry Kane.
The European side has many talents at their disposal who possesses speed, skill and strength with the likes of Napoli forward Dries Mertens at the front with Hazard and Lukaku, while Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne throws them with through passes.
The Chelsea winger said. (I think we have reached the best level of our careers. Romelu joined a very big club Manchester United and scored goals; Dries has been one of the best scorers in Italy the last two or three years, I’m maybe less of a scorer than they are, but I’m always able to create something. The burly Lukaku has improved his movement off the ball, along with his work rate and finishing. What is great about having Romelu is that he doesn’t need many chances to score. Maybe a few years ago, he needed more, But the reason why he is in the category of the very best strikers is that when he gets three chances in a game, he scores two. In terms of movement, he is better than he was a few years ago. In terms of defending, he does more).
However, looking at Belgium current squad, they can hurt any team in the world, it’s yet to been seen if they can qualify to the next stage.