first surprise with the defeat of Belgium, trapped by Slovakia

Without ideas and amorphous, the Belgians were punished by the Slovaks for a restart error on Monday.

We therefore had to wait until the fourth day of the Euro to see a heavyweight on the mat. Undefeated since the 2022 World Cup, the Belgians fell from the start, Monday June 17, for their first match in this Euro 2024. Opposed to the modest Slovakia, 48th nation in the Fifa ranking, Belgium was surprised from the start ( 7th minute), on a restart error by Jérémy Doku, well exploited in two stages by the Slovaks to open the scoring thanks to Ivan Schranz (1-0, 7th).

The score then no longer changed. The fault lies with the Belgians who were apathetic for a long time, falling into the false rhythm dictated by Slovakia who wisely waited in front of their goal. Jérémy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku certainly tried to awaken theirs in the second half, but these Red Devils lacked consistency, composure and precision. Result: the Belgians concede their first defeat in the group stage of the Euro since that against Italy in 2016. For their part, Slovakia joins Romania, who defeated Ukraine in the afternoon, in the lead from group E.

With an experimental defense in the absence of several executives, including the starting goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (absent from this Euro), Belgium advanced with some doubts against Slovakia. However, it was defensively that the Red Devils sinned. On a harmless ball near their corner post, winger Jérémy Doku launched into an impossible – and irresponsible – dribble, before a failed recovery in the middle.

Upon receiving this offering, Juraj Kucka struck with first intention, but Koen Casteels repelled the danger… on Ivan Schranz who, from a tight angle, opened the scoring. Stunned by this avoidable goal, the Belgians took many minutes to get back into the game. Without another save from Koen Casteels, Slovakia would even have broken before the break. But Belgium was still alive.

Upon returning from the locker room, Romelu Lukaku, clumsy until then, was unlucky. Twice, the AS Roma scorer thought of equalizing. Twice, the VAR canceled his achievement. The first because of his offside position on Amadou Onana’s delivery. The second because of a hand from Loïs Openda at the start of the action, before the latter’s cross towards Lukaku.

This decision, more questionable because Loïs Openda is pushed by his opponent, will undoubtedly cause a lot of ink to flow in Belgium. However, this will not erase the poor performance of the Red Devils, far from being dashing against the Slovaks who were well applied defensively. Slovakia joins Romania, who defeated Ukraine earlier in the day (3-0), at the top of Group E.