Belgium looked like they may have accidentally revealed their final World Cup squad in a mattress gaffe on Belgian television.
Belgian broadcaster VRT showed footage of mattresses being loaded up by a Belgian bedding company with labels indicating the player for which they were designated.
There were only 23 names shown in the footage with goalkeeper Matz Sels, defenders Christian Kabasele and Jordan Lukaku, midfielder Leander Dendoncker and winger Adnan Januzaj all excluded from the video.
Belgium manager Roberto Martinez named a provisional 28-man squad last month and he will have to cut his squad down to 23 players by the FIFA deadline of the 4th of June.
Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan was the notable omission from Belgium’s provisional squad with Martinez flying to Rome to meet with the 30-year-old before informing him that he would not be needed in Russia next month.
“It’s a tactical reason,” Martinez said at a news conference regarding Nainggolan’s exclusion. “Over the last two years, we have worked in a very attacking way, a very specific system and manner, and other players had those roles.
“Radja has a very important role in his club, and I don’t feel we can give him that in the national team. He’s not a player to be used in a small role.”
🗒️Our #WorldCup squad list !
Final 23 ➡️ 04/06#REDTOGETHER 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/nxOLAv28MS— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) May 21, 2018
