(Stuttgart) Sluggish and uninspired offensively, Belgium was held in check on Wednesday by Ukraine (0-0) in Stuttgart, but qualified for the round of 16 of Euro 2024, where it will meet France for a reunion after the 2018 World Cup semi-final.
A qualification under the whistles. Booed by its supporters very disappointed to have seen their team settle for the result instead of trying to snatch the first place, Belgium will once again cross paths with the Blues for a clash between neighbors in the round of 16.
Minimalist and endangered at the end of the match by the Ukrainians who tried to extend their “fairy tale” until the end, the Red Devils finished second in their group behind Romania.
The Blues and Yellows, whose supporters recalled the current tragic situation by deploying a banner “peace has a price” with the portrait of Nazariy Hryntsevich, nicknamed “Hrienka”, a fallen soldier and football fan, therefore see their dream end.
The image was generated by artificial intelligence from photos of 182 fallen Ukrainian soldiers who, in civilian life, were part of fan movements supporting football clubs.
Belgium, which played with its blue “Tintin” tunic, white collar and brown shorts inspired by the comic book hero, did not venture with the same audacity as Hergé’s intrepid reporter on the Ukrainian goal, but rather focused on the talent and mischief of Kevin De Bruyne, inserted between the lines as a playmaker to make the difference.
The Belgian captain, who scored in the 2-0 victory over Romania, was the cause of all the dangerous situations for the Red Devils in the first half: first by perfectly setting up a Romelu Lukaku who was still lacking in success in front of the Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, once again preferred to Andriy Lunin (7th).
Then by trying to surprise the same Trubin with a directly curled off-center free kick which grazed the left post while the Ukrainian defense was expecting a cross (33rd), and a third attempt from outside the area captured without problem (45th).
The Ukrainians, even deprived of their star Mykhaïlo Mudryk, injured, resisted well thanks to a reinforced and aggressive 5-3-2 system and good sequences of possession, which nevertheless did not succeed, despite the efforts and the combination attempts from the two Liga strikers Artem Dovbyk (Girona) and Roman Yaremchuk (Valencia).
With a little less haste and efficiency in the last gesture, the Valencian scorer could have been the hero of his entire homeland (22nd, 74th, 79th).
The same can be said for the Belgians, who ended up playing for time after stumbling several times against a heroic Ukrainian defense, with several decisive interventions from Trubin (65th, 73rd).
Domenico Tedesco’s men, probably aware of the result of the other match between Slovakia and Romania (1-1), which qualified them, almost got punished by a direct corner from the former Marseille player Ruslan Malinovsky, who came close to surprising Casteels (83rd). It will take much more to hope to get revenge against the Blues.
If Romania and Slovakia obtained a draw (1-1) which allows the two teams to continue their journey in the round of 16 of Euro 2024, for the third day of Group E, Thursday in Frankfurt, the two teams have played the game well.
The two coaches had committed to this the day before, during press conferences, and the players kept their promise, despite a temperature above 30 degrees at kick-off and a big storm at the start of the second half.
In the end, the operation is more favorable to Romania which wins the group and will play its eighth next Tuesday in Munich against the 3rd in group A, C or D.
Slovakia will only know its opponent, the location and date of its eighth after the Group F matches which take place at 9 p.m.
In a very indecisive group, where the four teams were tied with 3 points after the first two days, a first in a Euro, this match was just as much.
Respectively first and third at kick-off, the Romanians and Slovaks put on an entertaining show for a long time with 22 shots in total.
While Belgium and Ukraine were neutralized (0-0) in the other match, Francesco Calzona’s men almost took first place in the group, opening the scoring with a very nice cross header in retreating from Ondrej Duda (1-0, 24th).
But less than a quarter of an hour later, the spinning Ianis Hagi obtained a penalty that Razvan Marin propelled into the right corner of Martin Dubravka (1-1, 37th), giving back first place to his team.
In the second half, a strike from Marin and another from Denis Dragus, in the space of a few seconds, made the army of yellow supporters quiver with pleasure (61st).
Three minutes later, Florin Nita made the necessary foot save to prevent David Strelec from giving the Slovaks back the lead (64th), before as the minutes passed, the fear of conceding a goal ended up take precedence over the will to win.
The announcement of additional time of just three minutes was even met with a standing ovation from supporters of both camps.
The final whistle was a liberation for all and the Romanians, celebrating in front of the corner which was entirely dedicated to them, confirmed their status as the mood-setters of this Euro.
