Nacer's dream becoming reality

Nacer Chadli flew out to Belgium's World Cup base in Brazil today having declared: "It's a dream to play in the World Cup."

The attacking midfielder is one of three players we have in Belgium’s 23-man squad for the showpiece tournament alongside defender Jan Vertonghen and central midfielder Mousa Dembele.

And with the Belgians having flown out from Brussells to their base at Mogi das Cruzes, just to the east of Sao Paolo, ahead of their Group H bow against Nabil Bentaleb’s Algeria on Tuesday - kick-off 5pm UK time - Nacer remains optimistic he can help the Red Devils fulfil their potential on the biggest stage of them all.

“I think for everybody it’s a dream to play in the World Cup,” said the 24-year-old, who has been a key figure in the pre-tournament friendlies. “I’m very pleased that Belgium have qualified and have made it to the finals in Brazil.

“It will be a good World Cup with a lot of good teams, and we can compete with these good teams.

“We have to be focused and maybe we can achieve something.”

Belgium, who impressed so much in topping European qualifying Group A with an unbeaten record in 10 matches, also face Russia and South Korea in Group H in Brazil.

Belgium's matches:

June 17 v Algeria (5pm UK, live on ITV)
June 22 v Russia (5pm, live on BBC1)
June 26 v South Korea (9pm, live on ITV)