(Frankfurt) Messy and lacking in efficiency, Belgium has already put itself in a perilous situation in Group E of Euro-2024 by losing against Slovakia 0-1 on Monday in Frankfurt.
Despite a partial renewal of the “golden generation” and strong decisions by coach Domenico Tedesco, who did without Thibaut Courtois in goal, the spectre of an exit in the first round at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar looms once again.
Seeming amorphous and uninspired in the first period, like their playing master Kevin De Bruyne, extinguished and stuck in the opposing pressure, the Belgians were surprised in the 7th minute.
A completely useless grigri attempt from Jérémy Doku near his area allowed Ivan Schranz to open the scoring for the Slovaks by beating Koen Casteels (0-1, 7th).
Imprecise in the last or penultimate gesture and often making bad choices – like the 25-meter lob missed by Leandro Trossard, while Martin Dubravka had deserted his cages (21st) – the Belgians never knew how to catch up.
“Honestly, today there is not much where I can tell my team that we should have done better. […] The only thing that was not perfect were the missed opportunities because we had a lot of them and big ones,” lamented coach Domenico Tedesco at a press conference.
The impotence of the Red Devils had a face: that of a Romelu Lukaku who was alternately borrowed (3rd, 42nd), imprecise (55th, 62nd) and unhappy when the VAR twice canceled his equalizer.
On the first disallowed goal (56th), he deflected into an offside position a header from Amadou Onana which seemed destined for the Slovak net. On the second (86th), his beautiful recovery from the penalty shot was canceled for a hand from Lois Openda on the decisive pass.
However, the Slovak victory is not undeserved.
Despite the 45 places that separate the two teams in the FIFA rankings and the Belgian offensive waves in the second half, Francesco Calzona’s men bravely held their own.
“We had to draw on our reserves in the second half, but that was to be expected in the face of such classy opposition,” he admitted while emphasizing that his “team did what they had to do and she showed no fear.”
Belgium will now have every interest in winning their next match on Saturday against Romania, who beat Ukraine 3-0 on Monday afternoon, when Slovakia will face Ukraine.
“Of course we are a little disappointed when we lose the first match (but) we have to keep our heads high and go all out,” insisted Openda after the match.
