Belgium's Golden Boys Ready to Go

On Monday night, Belgium revealed their final 23-man squad for the World Cup, with just one alteration from the provisional list of 24 players, with unfortunate custodian Silvio Proto missing out.

At this stage, it's grossly unfair, and unrealistic, to label Marc Wilmots' squad as “dark horses” or underdogs – they have some of the best players in the world in their squad, and had a terrifically good road to qualification.

Unbeaten in their group, having conceded an amazingly low amount of four goals, they've also shown consistency.

Absent in 2010, and having only reached the second round in the last 20 years, the pressure is on for such an excellent pool of players to progress as far as the quarter-finals at least.

And with Adnan Januzaj, Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany and Romelu Lukaku, as well as a whole host of other world-class players at Wilmots' disposal, it's possible they'll go as far as equalling their best-ever World Cup finish of fourth place.

Striker Romelu Lukaku will be out to prove to everyone that his goal-getting will continue, much as it did against Sweden in a recent friendly. After all, it's not yet certain if he'll play at Stamford Bridge next season, as clubs everywhere are more than interested in his services.

With a golden generation of players, and no injury worries to speak of, their fresh status and gung-ho mentality might just be enough for them to cause a shock in South America.

Nonetheless, questions will remain about their capacity to put together an excellent performance on the biggest stage of all this summer until they topple a footballing giant like Argentina or hosts, and favourites, Brazil.

For a full view of the Belgium squad, visit our Belgium team page.

Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Sammy Bossut 

Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Anthony Vanden Borre (Anderlecht), Laurent Ciman (Standard Liege), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit St Petersburg),

Midfielders: Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg), Steven Defour, Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Nacer Chadli (Tottenham), Moussa Dembele (Tottenham), Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United), Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Strikers: Dries Mertens (Napoli), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea), Divock Origi (Lille)

Extratime.ie will be covering the FIFA World Cup 2014 from the first kick of a ball to the last with reports and news. We will also have regular features from our reporter in Brazil, Macdara Ferris, who is attending the Russia v South Korea game amongst others.