RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Kevin De Bruyne has accomplished a lot during his illustrious career. But Belgium’s star midfielder is not planning a fourth appointment world cup A normal appearance.
Two days before Belgium’s World Cup opener against Egypt, 35-year-old De Bruyne emphasized that he has changed significantly since his playing days. premier league sense for manchester city. It’s been almost 20 years since he first appeared for his country and went on to make 119 appearances, but the two-time Premier League Player of the Season award thinks he’s grateful for that.
“It’s an honor to still be here after playing for the national team for almost 16 years, which means I’ve done something good,” De Bruyne said with a laugh in the English portion of Saturday’s press conference. “I hope to play a good tournament and do something good for Belgium.”
2025-26 season, his first team Serie A club NapoliIt was a challenging game for De Bruyne, who had spent 10 years at City. During that time, De Bruyne scored 108 goals in 285 games and helped the English club win six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League trophy. In October, De Bruyne suffered a severe injury to his thigh muscle. and did not return until March 6th.
Since March, De Bruyne has appeared in 10 Serie A games and four friendlies for Belgium. His most recent goal was on June 6, in a 5-0 win against Tunisia.
Before the Belgium national team practiced at the training facility of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders, De Bruyne declared he was ready for the tournament.
“I did everything I could to stay fit, and I think so too,” De Bruyne said in French.
Even if he remains healthy, De Bruyne knows he will have fewer opportunities to play for the Belgium national team. The Belgian native of Drongen admitted as much, saying he has less than 10 years left in his career and is looking forward to enjoying every aspect of this tournament.
De Bruyne’s perspective is very different from his previous time with the Belgium national team and with City.
De Bruyne said: “I’m just focused on winning and the next game, but after winning, it suddenly ends.”
De Bruyne has no intention of letting up on his intensity with his team-mates. However, with other star players Winger Jeremy Dok On the roster, De Bruyne knows that the responsibility for winning is not solely on him, or on experienced veterans like striker Romelu Lukaku and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
The 24-year-old, who was team-mate with De Bruyne for two seasons at City, has impressed the veteran.
“It’s impossible to protect Jeremy for 90 minutes,” De Bruyne said. “He’s become even more efficient this past year. He’s had more moments where he can choose his situations. To play in top tournaments, you need a good doc.”
“In any case, he’s already made my life easier.”
However, what qualifies as a “top tournament” for this Belgian team is highly subjective. Belgium, who still have the ‘golden generation’ of De Bruyne, Lukaku and Courtois in their squad, are still taken seriously as a threat to advance in the tournament, especially given their relatively favorable Group G draws with Egypt, New Zealand and Iran.
Still, after a historic third place finish at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Belgium failed to make it past the group stage at the Qatar 2022 tournament. De Bruyne being in top form will go a long way in helping Belgium regain momentum from their 2018 performance.
De Bruyne will soon have the chance to turn back time when Belgium face former Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and Egypt in their World Cup opener on Monday.
“I played with Mo for 10 years,” De Bruyne said. “Our kids went to the same school too, so I used to see him every once in a while. And he’s a really nice guy. So it’s nice to see him. It’s great to compete again like we used to.”
De Basto qualified for the World Cup
Center back Zeno De Basto was absent from both teams. Wednesday’s and Thursday’s In training sessions open to the media, he remained part of the Belgium national team for the World Cup. In a statement issued by the team in French, the decision was made to keep De Basto on the roster after consultation with both the technical and medical staff.
De Basto, 22, injured his leg while training with Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon last month and is expected to be available until the second half of the tournament. De Basto played 26 games for Belgium and was included in the squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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