Belgium World Cup squad: Radja Nainggolan's omission puts Roberto Martinez under the microscope before Russia 2018 even begins

Belgian football journalist Kristof Terreur breaks down why Martinez has already put himself under pressure

Nainggolan immediately retired from international football after his omission (AFP)

Boos during the upcoming friendlies will just be something that Belgium manager Roberto Martínez has to deal with.

It is part of the job, of course, but Martinez made about as unpopular a call as they come by not selecting Radja Nainggolan in his squad for this summer's World Cup.

Talk will be all about Radja in Belgium over the next few days. Headline news, at that, despite being a player who only featured 96 minutes in a record-breaking qualification campaign and not even having been Belgium’s most important player.

Nainggolan is a popular figure in Belgium, whose absence hasn't been well received (Getty)

To understand the objections to this decision it helps to go back to March 27th, when Belgium hosted Saudi Arabia in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, and more specifically minute 59. Martínez brought on Nainggolan and a huge roar exploded from the stands; fans cheering and singing Nainggolan’s name. All for Radja, with a hashtag for company.

In a short period of time the rebellious Roma midfielder has become very popular in his home country. Belgians tend to like the underdogs and the omitted, rather than embracing their stars - perhaps answer as to why might lay in our past, a country that has always been ruled by others.

Nainggolan isn’t only loved for his warrior attitude or his punky character, but the general public clearly chose his side after Martínez ignored him for most of the qualifiying games - the Roma man only featuring for those paltry 96 minutes. A well-known and attention seeking Belgian television presenter once even staged a small protest outside the Belgium training complex with a banner and a megaphone. Despite scant playing time, fans voted him as the best international during the World Cup qualifying campaign. There was an online support campaign ‘We support Radja”. This is the scope of the opposition that Martinez has chosen to take on with this decision.

Suddenly, for some reason, nobody is talking about the storms Nainggolan has caused before.

There was (faux) outrage when it was reported that former Belgium manager Marc Wilmots had given him a room with a balcony during Euro 2016 so he could smoke his daily cigarette. When he was subbed off in the opening game of the Euros against Italy, he reacted angrily, shouting and swearing – not hiding his emotions in the dressing room either. There was the controversy when the police caught him drunk behind the wheel at the side of the road after one of his tyres was punctured. Or when he arrived a minute too late for a tactical session, the day after Martinez had warned the squad over their lack of discipline. Or that he played a friendly game with Roma against a youth squad in the third month of Martinez reign, while he’d withdrawn from the national squad with an injury.

Martínez and Nainggolan have never been a match.

It’s simple. The former Everton boss doesn’t trust Nainggolan. Neither on nor off the pitch. He sees him as a number 10 rather than a box-to-box or holding midfielder, so has no suitable place for him in his preferred 3-4-3 shape, but when you also factor in that Il Ninja’s lifestyle is not what he expects from a professional player. That’s it.

Martinez has never seen the need for Nainggolan (Getty)

“We were sitting in the same restaurant in Ibiza, him and me”, revealed Nainggolan in an interview in 2017. “He was sitting close to my table, but he even didn’t come over to say hello. Well, then I won’t greet him either.”

It must be said: Martínez's clumsy communication about the reason behind his omission has definitely fuelled the conflict and is probably the main reason why the public has sided with the player. Martinez never looked to tell the truth as he was scraping to save his neck. From "others were better" over "it's not a personal vendetta. I don’t have anything against him" and "the door is always open for him" to a "tactical decision and I couldn’t promise him an important role" on Monday as he announced the squad.

On Sunday Martinez had travelled to Rome for talks with Nainggolan with the vain hope that he wouldn’t burn bridges by telling him the decision in person, but Nainggolan went to Instagram soon after the official squad announcement (below) and said he was retiring as a Belgium international. It was never going to be easy, and Radja - boasting the support of the people - ensured it wasn't.

Martinez went the hard way by opting for an unpopular rather than a political call to select a player that he just doesn’t trust. That will come back on him if Belgium are underperforming.

Martinez has never been the most popular manager in Belgium – basically because no one really knows him and he doesn’t speak any of the official languages. The FA’s decision to extend his contract before the World Cup was countered with disbelief, but by not selecting Nainggolan he has already lost most of his credit. On social media and public forums he gets slaughtered. The online mob is even calling for a protest march during public training sessions and a boycott of some of the friendlies. What’s for sure: Martinez will get booed in the coming weeks. Belgium will start their road to Russia in a toxic atmosphere all because of the absence of a fairly unimportant player – Nainggolan only started in the draw against Greece during the qualifiers.

Nainggolan, Divock Origi and Kevin Mirallas are the only big names missing in the initial 28-man squad. Liverpool loanee Origi was the big surprise in Brazil four years ago, but he struggled to make a big impact this season on loan at Wolfsburg. Mirallas lost the plot completely at Everton, later on loan at Olympiakos. Even Martinez, a Mirallas believer, thought the gamble wasn’t worth it. The only player with a question mark behind his name is Thomas Vermaelen, currently recovering from a hamstring strain. Martinez will wait until the beginning of June to make a final decision over his fitness. That’s why he has called up some extra defenders with LA FC’s Laurent Ciman, Celtic’s Dedryck Boyata and Watford’s Christian Kabasele also making the list.

For the rest, it is the usual suspects with Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku as the star men. Martinez will deploy his 3-4-3 formation that he used during the most important part of the qualifying campaign. De Bruyne will act as a the modern playmaker, dictating the tempo and mastering time and space in a deeper role, alongside Axel Witsel, who keeps his spot in the team despite moving to China more than a year ago.

Martinez's main worries are the fitness of his central defenders - Vincent Kompany and co – as well as the lack of good wingbacks. Yannick Carrasco, a forward, plays on the left with the versatile Nacer Chadli after an injury-plagued season as the first backup for him and Meunier. He also has to make sure he marries the Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea players into his style. Players from United and Chelsea retreat when out of possession, while those of City and Spurs attack when the other team has the ball.

Belgium’s golden generation hasn’t been tested since Martinez's first game in charge, a friendly against Spain that ended in a 0-2 loss - a disappointing game that ended with lots of boos after the final whistle. Those boos will return against Portuga, for sure.

At the moment a quick look at the internet shows most fans are #allforradja and #againstroberto. Like everything in football, results will decide who was right or not.

Full squad list

Belgium in qualifying (AFP)

Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois, Simon Mignolet, Matz Sels, Koen Casteels

Defenders: Toby Alderweireld, Dedryck Boyata, Leander Dendoncker, Laurent Ciman, Christian Kabasele, Vincent Kompany, Jordan Lukaku, Thomas Meunier, Thomas Vermaelen, Jan Vertonghen

Midfielders: Yannick Carrasco, Kevin De Bruyne, Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele, Marouane Fellaini, Eden Hazard, Thorgan Hazard, Adnan Januzaj, Dries Mertens, Youri Tielemans, Axel Witsel

Forwards: Michy Batshuayi, Christian Benteke, Romelu Lukaku