{"id":20728,"date":"2026-06-12T20:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T20:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/20728\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T20:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T20:08:10","slug":"belgium-winger-jeremy-doku-returns-to-training-ahead-of-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/20728\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium winger J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku returns to training ahead of World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. (AP) \u2014 Belgium winger J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku returned to practice Wednesday, a day after reportedly leaving a training session early, as the team prepares for its World Cup<\/a> opener against Egypt on Monday.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Doku, who plays for Premier League<\/a> club Manchester City<\/a>, experienced some breathing issues on Tuesday during a closed practice, according to Belgian newspaper HLN. Before practice ended, Doku went inside the indoor training facility of Major League Soccer\u2019s Seattle Sounders for precautionary reasons, the report said.<\/p>\n

During the portion of Wednesday\u2019s training session open to reporters, Doku was a full participant. Winger Alexis Saelemaekers said he believes the national team\u2019s training staff can keep Doku in shape for the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen J\u00e9r\u00e9my steps off the field, it is logical that there are immediate question marks,\u201d Saelemaekers said in French. \u201cBut it is nothing serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doku has represented Belgium on the international level since 2020. In World Cup qualifying in 2025, Doku scored a goal in a 4-3 win over Wales. He put in two in a 7-0 victory over Liechtenstein, a result which clinched Belgium\u2019s berth in this year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

In 42 appearances for the Belgian national team, Doku has scored seven goals.<\/p>\n

Debast sidelined<\/p>\n

Center back Zeno Debast was the only notable Belgium player absent from Wednesday\u2019s training session, which was expected. The 22-year-old Debast injured his leg in May during a training session with Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon and is not expected to be available until later in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Debast has appeared in 26 matches for Belgium and was on the 2022 World Cup roster in Qatar.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RENTON, Wash. (AP) \u2014 Belgium winger J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku returned to practice Wednesday, a day after reportedly leaving a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[3924,7,4988,3933,13015,13014,3934,1176,7906,2031,5414],"class_list":["post-20728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-alexis-saelemaekers","tag-belgium","tag-belgium-national-soccer-team","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-manchester-city-fc","tag-seattle-redhawks","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-wa-state-wire","tag-washington","tag-zeno-debast"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116738949416441877","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}