Premier League trio Vincent Kompany, Marouane Fellaini and Nacer Chadli have all been named in Belgium's squad for their final two World Cup Qualifiers despite carrying injuries.
Kompany has not played for Manchester City since suffering a calf injury in his country's 9-0 win over Gibraltar last month, while Fellaini missed Manchester United's midweek Champions League victory against CSKA Moscow with an ankle problem.
Chadli has not featured for West Brom this season due to a muscle injury.
Belgium have already secured their spot in Russia next year, but manager Roberto Martinez wants his strongest available squad for the double header against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cyprus.
"It is true that there are three players in the squad on their way back from injury," said Martinez, whose side have scored 35 goals en route to sealing top spot in Group H.
"Every day is important to get more information so that means that everyone will report on Monday and then we'll assess them.
"I'm not certain if Kompany is going to stay in the camp like the other two players, but the reason they are in the squad is because we need to check them and give them as much time as we can."
"It is very important to keep continuity and not use the games to experiment," he added.
"We need to preserve our world-ranking position in order to be a top-seeded team for the World Cup draw. It's not the time to change things. It's important for us as a team to work on what we've already achieved."
No comments:
Post a Comment