Belgium provisional squad for Brazil 2014 World Cup

The Belgium coach Marc Wilmots has named his provisional squad for the World Cup

Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid, on loan from Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (Hoffenheim), Silvio Proto (Anderlecht).

Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Laurent Ciman (Standard Liege), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit St Petersburg), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Anthony Vanden Borre (Anderlecht), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham).

Midfielders: Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele (both Tottenham), Steven Defour (Porto), Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Marouane Fellaini, Adnan Januzaj (both Manchester United), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Divock Origi (Lille), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg).

Forwards: Romelu Lukaku (Everton, on loan from Chelsea), Dries Mertens (Napoli).

A squad full of promise

We consider Belgium one of the outsiders, they have several quality players like Eden Hazard, Thomas Vermaelen, Romelu Lukaku, just to name a few. And new to the squad is also Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj, who just a few weeks ago declared his allegiance to the country. One player that will be missed is the Aston Villa forward Christian Benteke. He is injured, and will be replaced by the 19-year-old Lille forward Origi.

Betting on Belgium for the World Cup

Belgium played great football in the qualification, and are among the most interesting teams in the World Cup. They do lack in experience, so the question is if their youth and energy can take them all the way? If you think so, then you get odds 19 (18/1) with Bet365. In group H they are playing against Russia, South Korea and Algeria. Belgium are the clear favourite odds-wise to win the group, perhaps a bit too much. Russia will give them good competition, so we fancy more the odds 3.10 (21/10) with Paddy Power on Belgium to finish second in their group. See below for details of the early bets we find worth mentioning: