Onana happy to play at the back as Belgium experiment in victory over Croatia

Onana, typically the midfield enforcer for Belgium, was moved to centre-back at the start of the friendly in Rijeka, which the Belgians won 2-0 with a performance that lifted morale.

This was an unexpected change from their usual 4-3-3 system, but it had been rehearsed to determine if it could be a viable option for the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

"I felt comfortable in that position," Onana said at a press conference on Wednesday. "The partnership with Arthur (Theate) and Nathan (Ngoy) worked quite well. They also performed their duties very effectively. For a first complete run-through, this was certainly not bad at all.

"I have played there a few times before. The team always comes first. I am a midfielder, that is my preferred position, but if they require me in defence, I will do it. Even if the coach wants me up front as a striker, I will play there," Onana told reporters.

"I am most at ease in midfield, and I believe that one day I can be among the very best players in the world in that position. However, the World Cup is the priority at the moment, and if I have to play in defence, I will do so without complaint. I felt good there yesterday too."

For coach Rudi Garcia, the experiment was a success.

"This provides us with more variation in our play, especially as we have many players who are versatile enough to function in this system," he said.

"Of course, there are still aspects that can be improved. But at least we now know that we can employ this system to start a match or switch to it during a game and that we can also obtain results with it.

"Since he is naturally more of a midfielder, it gives us the option to move him around. We saw against Croatia that he possesses all the qualities required to perform this job successfully."