Sporting: Debast Out of World Cup, Belgian Coach Frustrated

Belgium's national team coach, Rudi Garcia, expressed significant displeasure over the likely absence of Zeno Debast for tonight's World Cup quarter-final clash against Spain. This comes despite a scheduled meeting between Sporting CP and the Belgian federation before the match to further clarify the situation. "He could play. I don't want to talk too much about it now, to avoid fueling controversy. I will clarify the matter later. After the World Cup, meaning after July 20th," he stated at a press conference, sounding somewhat irritated.

The highly probable absence of the Lions' center-back from the match against the Spaniards stems from a disagreement between Sporting CP's medical staff and the Red Devils' medical department, as announced in a statement issued early Thursday evening. "Zeno Debast will not be available for the quarter-finals. His club, Sporting CP, has informed the player that they do not consider him medically fit to play matches. This assessment differs from that presented by the Red Devils' medical team, as well as FIFA's medical and insurance bodies. Zeno is training individually today under the supervision of the RBFA Performance department," the Belgian federation published.

The defender sustained an injury during the final phase of a training session before the match against V. Guimarães in early May, suffering a complicated knock in the right thigh insertion area.

Despite this, he was called up for the World Cup, as the Belgian delegation believed the athlete could contribute. However, this prediction has not materialized, and the center-back has yet to feature in any matchday squad.