Belgium - enjoying the dark horse label

The monicker of being a dark horse is branded to a team by every journalist covering the World Cup. This year, for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil the honour has been bestowed upon Belgium; despite the world class talent of household Premier League names such as Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany and Marouane Fellaini as well as arguably the world's best goalkeeper in Chelsea owned Thibaut Courtois. But does being called a dark horse actually result in success when it comes to the tournament itself?

In the European Championship of 2012 Russia were considered the Dark Horses by many before the tournament, they finished 3rd in a group containing Poland, Greece and Czech Republic, hardly a giant of the European game.

In the 2010 World Cup, Ivory Coast, spearheaded by their talisman Didier Drogba, were seen as Africa's great hope in the first African World Cup. They also finished 3rd in their group containing Brazil, Portugal and North Korea; although this was labelled a "Group of Death", another over used football cliche.

The only two times where a dark horse has actually been a success on the international stage was Greece in the tournament that they hosted - Euro 2004. They did not play the "tika taka" or "total football" style but they managed to win a tournament using Jose Mourinho tactic of "parking the bus".

Meanwhile, Denmark famous won the European Championship in 1992 with a surprise victory. They did not even qualify for the tournament originally.

However, there are slightly different expectations placed on Belgium this year. They are not only expected to succeed; anything less then a semi final appearance can be seen as a failure. They are expected to do it in a attractive way, getting results is no longer the only objective to strive for; you have to be entertainers on the way, as Sam Allardyce has discovered at West Ham.

All this links into the main problem with the Dark Horse Phrase. It places expectation on a team that is meant to have no expectations placed on them.

By tipping a team such as Belgium in this way, it has put them in the same breath as your Spain, Germany's and Brazil's - which could actually be more of a psychological problem than the team actually would need.