Tous Ensemble! TOUS ENSEMBLE!

On a cool March night in Brussels, I was finally able to cross one of the highest items off my European bucket list: Attend a high level football match. The Belgium national team was playing its fourth group qualifying match for the 2016 UEFA Euro championships. Belgium is in Group B with Bosnia & Herzegovina, Wales, Israel, Cyprus and Andorra. After playing home and away matches against each team in the group, the top 2 teams qualify for Euro 2016 finals with the 3rd team placed in a playoff to earn one of the final spots at the finals. Anything other than qualifying for the finals would be a massive failure for the current Belgian national team. The team is expected to win the group, but had started slow with only one win and 2 draws in their first 3 games. Coming into the Cyprus match, Belgium was 4th in the group with only 5 points, trailing Israel with 9 points, Wales with 7 and Cyprus with 6. It was a must win game for the Red Devils.



Belgium's national football team has a history of ups and downs. The team first peaked in the 80's and early 90's, qualifying for 6 straight world cups and losing in the finals of 1980 Euro Championships. However, the team went through a period of mediocrity, failing to qualify for 5 straight World Cup or Euro tournaments, and going through a series of coaching changes.

Since 2008, the national team has been on an upward trend thanks to the impact of a burgeoning group of young players plying their trade in the biggest European leagues and coming into the national team. Players like Vincent Kompany, Eden Hazard, Axel Witsel, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Christian Benteke and of course the afro himself Marouane Fellaini who plays for my team Manchester United in the EPL. The new look Belgian squad rode this talented young core to a quarterfinals finish at 2014 World Cup, taking out my beloved USMNT in the process in what was a great game featuring an out of this world performance from US goalkeeper Tim Howard. But i digress, this Belgian squad is extremely talented and one of the best in the world, so the opportunity to see them play in an important qualifying match at their home stadium was a sight to see.

I was fortunate to have CIEE provide the tickets for me and the rest of the program. A large group of us got together before the game to dress ourselves for the occasion. With Belgium being our adopted home country, we couldn't help but go all out in our outfits.

Sarena went full Darth Maul 

Sorry for being terrifying

Together, in a sea of black, red and yellow, we met up with the rest of our group, hopped on the metro and marched to the Roi Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.

Hey Mitch

The Roi Baudoin Stadium holds an important place in football history. The stadium formerly known as Heysel Stadium played host to the 1985 European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool. Sadly, a commotion in the stands before the match began caused a massive congestion of supporters that began to crush supporters and resulted in the collapsing of a stadium wall. 39 supporters were killed and another 600 were injured. The event had widespread repercussions throughout football, as it it led to the ban of English teams from European cup competitions, and brought the enforcement of improved safety regulations in football stadiums. The Roi Baudouin stadium received major renovations in the time since the tragedy and is a largely different stadium today, but the memory of the Heysel disaster lives on.

Here was my view for the game:

Sitting with my boy Mitch, another soccer fan, we were ecstatic to watch this game. It started out about how I would expected, with Belgium controlling the pace of play and getting a few chances towards goal in the opening 20 minutes. Then in the 21st minute my boy Fellaini head home a goal for the home team!

The crowd went crazy, and the game was on. From there, Belgium dominated the rest of the game, controlling possession, getting chances on goal and just suffocating the inferior Cyprus squad. Benteke added another before halftime to make it 2-0. The second half continued the Belgian domination and the teams stars in Fellaini and Hazard scored two absolutely beautiful goals in the span of 2 minutes to bring the lead to 4-0. With a comfortable lead in tow, all 3 goal scorers were subbed out to standing ovations from the crowd. The games was capped off in the 80th minute, when Michy Batshuayi, a 21 year old forward who had come on as a substitute to make his first cap (appearance) for the National team slotted home a goal to bring the score to 5-0. It was a terrific night for the Red Devils and the crowd was electric.

I loved every second of it. I couldn't understand why some people decided to leave with a few minutes left to "beat the crowds", but not everyone is as crazy about football as me. I tried to soak in as much of the atmosphere as I could, as I don't know when I'll be able to experience something like this again. I left the stadium, sad that it was over, but oh so happy that I got to attend the match.

The public transport leaving the stadium was great, with metros every two minutes or so (So much better than the green line at Fenway). I was home in 30 minutes, and went to bed to rest up for our trip to Bruges the next day.

After a 1-0 win over Israel a few days later, Belgium now find themselves top of Group B with 11 points. Given the rest of qualifying goes to plan, I know who I'll be cheering for at Euro 2016.

 Till next time. Cheers.