with the visitors now unlikely to join Marc Wilmots'
men in France.
Stand-in captain Eden Hazard believes Belgium can challenge to
win Euro 2016, while Tuesday's opponents Israel face a huge
uphill struggle if they are to qualify.
Marc Wilmots' men have already booked their ticket to France
having defeated Andorra 4-1 on Saturday, a result that moved
them above Wales to the top of Group B and sealed their first
qualification to the Euros since 2000.
Israel had been in pole position to seal third place and a play-off
spot until they suffered a shock 2-1 home loss to Cyprus, which
now leaves them up against it ahead of their final qualifier.
Eli Guttman's men are one point behind Bosnia-Herzegovina
after they defeated Wales. The turnaround means they must get
a better result against table-toppers Belgium in Brussels than
Bosnia can manage away to Cyprus.
Having made a good start to the campaign, Israel are paying the
price for a dreadful run that has seen them pick up just four
points from their last six qualifiers.
Belgium, meanwhile, have no such worries. Hazard, who wore
the captain's armband against Andorra with Vincent Kompany
out injured, feels the squad have enough quality to build on their
quarter-final appearance at the World Cup with glory in France
next year.
"Our aim is to win Euro 2016," the Chelsea winger told Sporza.
"We are aware that we can win it – there is enough quality in
the group.
"We want to do something massive in France but we need
everything to go well. But the Euros are not for tomorrow. First
we have to play a good season."
Hazard scored one penalty and missed another during the
Andorra victory and reflected on the miss after the match, as
well as paying tribute to Manchester United's Marouane Fellaini,
who he is now level with at the top of Belgium's scoring charts
for the qualifying campaign on five goals after the midfielder did
not come off the bench on Saturday.
The 24-year-old continued: "Without that miss, I would have
been top scorer [in qualifying].
"But I will score on Tuesday against Israel. We really want to
win and finish in style.
"In my opinion, Fellaini has been the best player in qualifying. He
has scored a lot of goals even if he has not played all the
matches."
Dries Mertens played in the win over Andorra and he wants to
see Belgium keep their foot on the throttle against Israel.
He said: "We are delighted because it is a long time since
Belgium last qualified for the European Championship, so there
is a good feeling in the team.
"We came here for the three points and to qualify, but we still
want to win on Tuesday and finish first in the group."
After the match in Andorra, head coach Wilmots revealed he had
no new injury concerns ahead of the game with Israel.
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