Follow all the information and results of the Euro Cup from here
The selection of Belgium This Wednesday he got his ticket to the round of 16 of the Euro Cupalthough the first phase closed with the bitter taste of having ended in the second place in Group Ewhich in the preview presented him with the great favorite.
After an unexpected defeat in the debut against Slovakia and a victory against Romania that seemed to right the course, the Red Devils tied 0-0 with Ukraine in Stuttgart, in a duel in which They were on the verge of eliminationgiven that a goal from the Ukrainians would have left them last in their zone and out of the competition.
In an intense and even match, those led by Domenico Tedesco They did not meet expectations and suffered at the end, when their rival was close to scoring the qualifying goal with a corner taken by Ruslan Malinovskiy that the archer Koen Casteels ended up saving over the line.
After the scare, once the match was over, the team led by Kevin De Bruyne He began to walk towards one of the arches to greet his supporters. However, they did not do so because The fans began to disapprove of the footballers’ performanceexpressing his disappointment and anger with a shower of whistles and boos.
Faced with this expression of rejection, the Manchester City midfielder decided to turn back and leave the field of play, turning his back to the public. While some of his companions – like Johan Bakayoko and Lois Openda-They had timidly raised their arms to greet, the captain made gestures to them and directed them towards the locker rooms. Thus, they retired under a whistle that became even more deafening.
The attitude of the squad reflects the tension in the relationship between the team and the Belgian fans. Beyond that, Tedesco said the catcalls caught his attention: “I’m surprised. The only thing that mattered was the classification. We lost the first game, so the conditions were not easy. After our victory against Romania everyone was happy. My players don’t understand that they whistle at us now. Ukraine were a difficult opponent and we did everything we could to score. But hey, you have to accept it.”
“This group was more difficult than many thought. On paper, you can be the favourites, but you have to play the games and these teams have absolutely nothing to lose. They play from the back, they can lose the ball. Plus, they have quality players, we don’t play against small teams,” added the coach at the press conference.
With figures like Romelu Lukaku, Leandro Trossard and Jeremy DokuIn addition to De Bruyne, Belgium has been well positioned in the FIFA ranking for several years and at the beginning of each competition it appears as one of the potential candidates for the title. But it is difficult for him to specify. In the last decade, their best participation came in the 2018 World Cup, where they reached the semifinals. In the rest of the big tournaments he could not overcome the barrier of the quarterfinals. And in the 2022 Qatar World Cup they failed when they were eliminated in the group stage.
Now, in the midst of doubts about the performance and questions from their fans, to continue dreaming in this Euro 2024 they will have to beat France, which came second in their area. The clash will be next Monday in Düsseldorf.
“We will win. These are the games we are looking for and anything is possible,” the coach said confidently.
