World Cup headache for Rudi Garcia and Belgium as defender suffers ‘concerning’ injury

World Cup headache for Rudi Garcia and Belgium as defender suffers ‘concerning’ injury

Rudi Garcia and Belgium could be set to go into the World Cup without key defender Zeno Debast. The former Anderlecht youngster, currently playing for Sporting in Portugal, suffered an injury in training that could see him out for a prolonged period of time. As reported by HLN, Debast has suffered a thigh injury which has been described as concerning. For Belgium, with the World Cup just around the corner, they can ill afford to lose more players to injury.

At the other end of the pitch, the side are hoping that Romelu Lukaku can return to full fitness. They struggled at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar without him up front and are currently working on trying to get Matias Fernandez Pardo eligible to go.

Losing Debast would cause serious concerns at the back where they are young and inconsistent. Outside of Club Brugge’s 33-year-old Brandon Mechele, the other central defensive options are all under 25.

Debast joined Sporting from Anderlecht back in 2024 and went on to have a fantastic first season in Portugal, scoring twice and grabbing four assists in 48 games. So far this season he has played 24 times for the side, but it looks like that will be it for the season if he is to recover in time to represent Belgium at the World Cup.