Rudi Garcia was all smiles in front of the Belgian press this Friday in Atlanta. A touch of humor here, another there. He loves the United States. “I’ve already come here with Roma,” he confided. “It’s good practice to be here in March. It helps to understand the travel and jet lag. Not to mention the temperature changes due to the size of the country.”
Rudi Garcia also admitted that he will take advantage of this American window to test one or the other tactical scheme. “It will depend on how the first match goes and the players I have available for the second. We need to consider the players’ timing. Some will play Wednesday at 3 am Belgian time and will have to play on Saturday for their club. So they won’t play ninety minutes against Mexico. And it’s a bit of a shame to make tactical explorations in the absence of Courtois. But yes, we are preparing some tactical adaptations, not only defensive ones. It’s time to do them to arrive at the World Cup with a team capable of responding to different situations. In Lyon, we had a team that pressed with 3 and defended with 4, for example.”
And finally, the national team coach did not dodge the worrying question. What about Romelu Lukaku’s physical and mental freshness in a delicate situation with Napoli? “It seems logical and healthy to me that he wants to come back when he is 100% for the World Cup. Totti suffered the same injury. You can’t recover from it in four months. Regarding the situation with Naples, we need to consider his interest. He has to come back 100%. And it is also in Napoli’s and the national team’s interest. For his psychological and physical well-being, we need to help him return to his best level.”
