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 reunion after the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup. A qualification under the whistles. Jeered by its supporters, very disappointed to have seen their team be satisfied with the result instead of trying to snatch 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 Ukrainians who tried until the end to prolong their “fairy tale”, the Red Devils finished second in their group behind Romania. The Blues and Yellows, whose supporters recalled the current tragic situation by unfurling a banner “peace has a price” with the portrait of Nazariy Hryntsevich, nicknamed “Hrienka”, a soldier fallen in combat and football fan, therefore see their dream come to an end.
Into the last 16! #UKRBEL#WirSchaffenDas#EURO2024pic.twitter.com/6ePhd9RTty
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) June 26, 2024
De Bruyne… And that’s almost all
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, scorer in the success against Romania (2-0), was at the origin of all the dangerous situations for the Red Devils in the first half: first by perfectly throwing a Romelu Lukaku still lacking success in front of Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, 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).
Former Marseille player Malinovsky close to surprising the Belgians
The Ukrainians, even deprived of their injured star Mykhaïlo Mudryk, 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 meeting between Slovakia and Romania (1-1), which qualified them, almost got punished by a direct corner from former Marseillais Ruslan Malinovsky, close to surprising Casteels (83rd). It will take a lot more to hope for revenge against the Blues.