France vs Belgium: Eden Hazard is ready to clinch the team that he has grown by encouraging the World Cup final on the line

Eden Hazard was seven and a half years old during France 98, the most impressionable age possible, and it was not clear who he would support.

Having grown up in the French-speaking town of Braine-le-Comte, less than an hour's drive from Lille or Valenciennes, only France shirts were on sale. Hazard was crazy about football, just like his five-year-old brother, Thorgan. Their father Thierry played for local club second division La Louvière. But their hero was Zinedine Zidane

Thus, the little Hazard brothers wore their shirt from France, with "ZIDANE 10". in the back, and encouraged their neighbors up to glory in Paris

Belgium, meanwhile, with Marc Wilmots, Luc Nilis and Emile Mpenza, shot all three group matches and did not leave his group. It was not really a decision to make.

"In the past, we always supported France rather than Belgium," Hazard told BeIN Sport this week. "We grew up with this 1998 World Cup and at the time the players in France were just better than in Belgium, and I say that with all due respect, we have always felt like Belgians. , but we supported the French national team. "

Hazard was 14 when Lille scouts saw him playing for Tubize, the local club where coaches were talking about the boy who had been blessed by the holy spirit. They wanted to sign it and for the Hazard family, again, it was obvious. Better facilities in one of the largest clubs in France, and very little uprooting.

Even at Euro 2012, just after Hazard left Lille for Chelsea, he was happy to cheer on France. His own Belgian club, in which he was now a regular, had failed to qualify. "I am 99% Belgian," he said at the time, but 1% French. "

Six years later, Hazard enters the biggest game of his life, ready to hit the team that he used to support outside of the World Cup. This would be the next most appropriate step – but not the conclusion – of a tournament in which he reaffirmed his claim to be one of the best players in the world.

Because France will arrive in St. Petersburg as a favorite, Belgium has been the best and most exciting team in the World Cup so far. They scored the most goals (14), and the most in open play. Only Brazil had more shots or more shots on target.

Belgium reached this stage by achieving the biggest return of the World Cup, three goals in 25 minutes to defeat Japan. And in the quarterfinals, they won the best match, a 2-1 win over Brazil, which was far superior to France's 4: 3 defeat against Argentina. Because it involved two serious teams and working close to their best, not just one.

That night in Kazan, Roberto Martinez took a step back from his 3-4-3 system to go to a stronger 3-4-1-. 2, trying to release the Brazilian attacks to the center of the field. He gave Hazard more work by abandoning Dries Mertens, but he responded with a performance that was both terribly dangerous, but also admirably disinterested. Pbading from his favorite left interior cbad on the right, happy to make projections as needed, it was impossible to fish, scrambling the Brazilian defense and making room for Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku

It was an exhibition that should terrify all sides that Belgium could face. Because the proof of Hazard's career so far is that when he's in the mood, in a happy, functional, and focused team, with a coach who knows what he's doing, he does not. There is nothing that can hinder it.

was the best player by far in two Premier League winners, Chelsea, under two different directors. No, this season was not the best, as Chelsea found himself in another characteristic crisis. But he still found a way to win the FA Cup final alone.

Beyond Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, none other than him manages to grab a match for his team with a few seconds of individual brilliance, arising from the left, through the Space that no one knew, shooting Olivier Giroud has been closely watching Hazard for six months and now his own World Cup campaign with France is at the mercy of his elusive teammate, whom Giroud has termed "genius" this week . "To be alongside Eden every day in Chelsea, he's impressive when he drives with the ball, in his ability to break through with the ball," Giroud said. "For me, he is one of the top three players with whom I have played my entire career." Well done, but two more games like Friday night and praise will increase again, as Hazard gets closer to his childhood hero.

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