Enzo Scifo's prospects of playing in next Wednesday's World Cup play-off at Lansdowne Road were advanced significantly after he had been cleared for Anderlecht's UEFA Cup meeting with Schalke O4 last night.
After missing Belgium's 3-2 win over Wales earlier this month because of a groin problem, Scifo was sufficiently recovered to merit a place in Anderlecht's squad for their European assignment.
And that was an encouraging development for the embattled national team coach Georges Leekens just 48 hours before he names his travelling party for Dublin after a squad session tomorrow morning.
For Scifo, the elegant midfielder who heralded his arrival on the international scene with a sequence of convincing performances in helping Belgium to the World Cup semi-finals in Mexico in 1986, the Ireland tie has special significance.
If the Belgians prevail over the two legs of the tie, Scifo, like his teammate Frank van der Elst, will join a list of only nine players who have participated in four consecutive World Cup finals.
Van der Elst was only making his way as a fledgling professional in 1986 but he recalls the European Championship game against Ireland immediately after the World Cup finals as another significant milestone in his career.
"I played in the centre of the defence against Frank Stapleton and John Aldridge and if I was under pressure for 90 minutes, I was also very happy with my performance against two very good strikers," he said.
"Enzo (Scifo) got our second goal in a 2-2 draw and I think the Irish will now discover that he is still a very good player."
On the popular theory in Belgium that they had got the best draw in the play-offs, he said: "I don't agree with that. There are too many Premiership players in Ireland's team to make them easy to beat. I think it will be very difficult for us in both Dublin and Brussels."
The contrary view is held by midfielder Luc Nilis who plays with PSV Eindhoven. "I think Belgium play well against British style teams," he said. "What happened in the second half of our game against Wales 10 days ago was all our own fault. We simply lost our concentration and conceded two goals."
Those closing 45 minutes against Wales encapsulate the story of Belgium's decline in recent seasons, a decline which has sent them plummeting to 48th place in the latest FIFA rankings list, six below Ireland.
It was a perceived need to tighten their defence which brought Leekens to power earlier this year but after conceding three goals to Northern Ireland in Belfast in his first game in charge, he is, on his own admission, still some way off the ideal formation at the back.
Alarmed by the manner in which the Welsh got among their central defenders in Rotterdam earlier on October 11th, there is now a campaign for the return of Philipe Albert, the out of favour Newcastle player on the premise that he is familiar with the priorities of British style teams.
Having taken much of the blame for last month's 3-0 defeat by Holland and been excluded from the Welsh game as a consequence, it is far from certain, however, that Albert will have the chance of facing his clubmate, Shay Given at Lansdowne Road.
Luis Oliviera, their Italianbased striker, misses the game because of a ban as do Emile Lokonda and Gilles de Bilde who are both injured. Lokonda, born in Zaire, has a damaged ankle, but his younger brother, Mbo, is in contention for a place in midfield.
Meanwhile, David Kelly yesterday confessed to some relief after an X-ray examination revealed that an ankle injury sustained against Nottingham Forest last Saturday was nothing more than a sprain. It means that he could be back for the second leg of the playoff in just over three weeks time.
Likewise, the ankle injury which Gary Breen picked up in Coventry City's unexpected defeat by Barnsley on Monday evening is not thought to be serious.
