Football
Mark Rodden 9y

Belgium coach Marc Wilmots: You were crying, now you want caviar

Belgium coach Marc Wilmots has reminded critics who want to see his team play "champagne" football to remember how far his side have come.

Belgium can qualify for Euro 2016 if they beat Andorra on Saturday but the team currently ranked third in the world have come in for scrutiny for their recent performances in Group B qualifiers.

Even Wilmots admitted last month that he would give few of his players pass marks following their lacklustre display during Belgium's 1-0 win in Cyprus.

On Wednesday though the former Schalke midfielder hit back at his detractors, pointing out that Belgium had failed to qualify for Euro 2012 shortly before he took over from George Leekens.

"Three years ago you were crying and now you want champagne and caviar," Wilmots told reporters.

"People just have to be aware that we were the outsider for World Cup qualifying and here we're the favourites.

"We therefore have a lot less space, while our biggest strength is transition into attack. It's a new role for us."

Wilmots, who led Belgium to the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals, said that for the game in Cyprus several players were perturbed by transfer talk, were out of form or were carrying injuries.

But he backed his team to silence their critics if they seal their ticket to next summer's tournament in France.

"If we win the last two matches we'll have taken 23 points from 30," he said. "This qualification campaign will be quickly forgotten about anyway. It's at the European Championships that you will be able to judge us."

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