Slovakia pulled off the first major upset of the 2024 European Championship – and one of the biggest in the tournament’s history – by hanging on to beat third-ranked team Belgium.
Slovakia are 48th in the FIFA rankings, but continued their goal-scoring trend early in this tournament when Ivan Schranz took advantage of a failed attempt by Belgium to play from the back to give the lead to his team after seven minutes.
Romelu Lukaku twice thought he had equalized, notably a few minutes from the end, but on both occasions his shots were canceled by the VAR.
These decisions, one for offside and the second for a handball by Lois Openda, prevented Belgium from finding the equalizer and experienced a disappointing start to the Euro, their first participation in the tournament since their dismal elimination during the phase of groups of 2022. World Cup.
After Romania surprisingly beat Ukraine 3-0 earlier in Group E, Belgium must now get their act together quickly if they are to avoid the kind of fate that befell them in Qatar.
Was Slovakia inspired by another clash earlier today?
“We know that we are by no means favorites for this match,” Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona said ahead of the match. “I hope the team plays beyond itself and achieves the best in terms of results. What matters is not losing.
Although Slovakia were clear underdogs in this match, Romania’s victory over Ukraine a few hours earlier may have spurred Calzona’s team into action.
Their goal came against the run of play, with Slovakia pressing high up the pitch and preventing Jeremy Doku from playing close to the corner flag. The Manchester City winger attempted to pass to Timothy Castagne on the edge of the penalty area, but the ball was turned over and midfielder Juraj Kucka was allowed to shoot on goal.
Koen Casteels, starting in the Belgian goal in the absence of Thibaut Courtois, was strong enough to save the first effort, but the rebound fell into the path of Schranz, who put his team ahead with a smart finish .
Slovakia’s seventh-minute goal continued the trend of early goals at this European Championship (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images)
The goal stunned the spectators gathered at the Waldstadion, but Calzona may have set a trap. Before the start of the match, the head coach said: “Belgium is good in transition and counterattack, but we have our own way of playing. When you press well this can be an advantage, but if you don’t you leave more space.
Slovakia – a nation blessed with more talented defenders than attackers – shook Belgium in the first half, and it was all down to proactive defensive work high up the pitch.
Carl Duck
What was the cost of Lukaku’s failures?
As one of the few remaining pillars of Belgium’s golden generation, Lukaku was always going to carry a heavy burden this summer. In this transition team – heavy in some areas and weak in others – he is one of the main men.
But it was an evening in which almost everything went against the 31-year-old.
In the first half alone, he missed three presentable chances, including shooting straight at Martin Dubravka from close range just three minutes later, following an electric run from Doku.
Then, after the break, there were those two disallowed goals – the first when he was ruled offside following Amadou Onana’s header and the second when Openda was judged somewhat harshly for handling the preparation.
Romelu Lukaku, Belgium’s top scorer, thought he had equalized in the second half but the goal was disallowed (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
Matches of this ilk are unusual for Lukaku, who scored 85 times in just 116 caps en route to becoming his country’s top scorer. But this rare day off brought back memories of his last appearance at a major tournament; a 0-0 group stage draw against Croatia in which he missed numerous chances and Belgium crashed out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Lukaku finished the match with a cumulative xG of 0.8 but lacked touch and composure on this occasion to prevent Belgium from suffering a shock defeat. He will need to find his goal shoes soon if he is to avoid another embarrassing early exit.
Patrick Boyland
The “Snickometer” plays a major role for the first time
For a fleeting moment as the clock approached 90 minutes, Lukaku appeared to have salvaged a point for Belgium. But then came the VAR intervention and a historic moment of the tournament.
Turkish referee Halil Umut Meler went to the pitch monitor to examine an Openda handball during the build-up, and saw footage using UEFA’s new ‘snickometer’ technology, to check whether the The RB Leipzig striker had illegally made contact with the ball. The footage showed that to be the case, and what would have been the equalizing goal was duly ruled out.
UEFA has been working to improve decision-making during matches, with Roberto Rosetti, its director general of referees, flagging the rollout of the new technology during a pre-tournament briefing in Munich.
Rosetti explained that the balls used in this tournament would contain electronic chips that would allow precise contact tracing, essential to the semi-automated offside technology used, but which would also allow officials to detect whether, in certain situations, contact has been made.
Much like the technology used in cricket, the “snickometer” provides a way to detect whether a player has touched the ball, perhaps with the hand, or whether a player in an offside position has made contact.
This was its first major use, and it occurred at a key moment in the game.
Much like VAR itself, expect the debate on this one to go on and on.
Patrick Boyland
To what extent could this setback be damaging for Belgium?
This Belgian golden generation never really realized what their talent promised. A little too early and lacking full-backs for Euro 2016, a little too late and lacking midfield bite for Euro 2020. Current coach Domenico Tedesco leads a new, younger Belgian team that has arrived entered this tournament with reduced ambitions (a quarter-final exit was widely seen as a likely outcome in the country’s media), but they were still expected to beat Slovakia comfortably.
“We are all here to enjoy a good start to the competition,” captain Kevin De Bruyne said before the match. “We can focus on the positives or negatives of the past, but the team is sharp and ready to start this tournament.”
Yet Belgium was constrained by long-standing problems. They again had problems at the back, with Yannick Carrasco struggling to express himself with Leandro Trossard up front. Belgium once again looked timid in central areas (Axel Witsel was only fit enough for the bench). Youri Tielemans – a second-half substitute brought in to give his team a greater semblance of control in midfield – ended up being booked 80 seconds after his introduction.
On several occasions, Belgium attacked a corner with no other plan than to “aim for Amadou Onana”.
Call them unlucky, call the result unfortunate, but Belgium were beaten because they were unconvincing for large parts of the match. They were slow to respond to the aggression of the Slovak high press in the first half and were thwarted by Calzona’s team’s savvy defense in the second half.
Before this match, Belgium was undefeated in 14 matches under Tedesco’s leadership (10 wins, 4 draws). Romania’s surprise victory against Ukraine right from the start of the day shook up the form of Group E. It completely shook it up.
Carl Duck
What did Domenico Tedesco say?
“We can exploit this disappointment and take advantage of this defeat. There are some positives we can take from this match.
Will he need to speak to Lukaku? “No, we are very honest. He has been playing for Belgium for a long time and he knows how to score goals very well. He showed it. He scored two goals tonight but they were disallowed. If he needs anything, I’m here for him. But he’s a top player and he doesn’t need anything in that regard.
What did Fracesco Calzona say?
“I asked the team to try to play football because we have the quality to do so. Of course, Belgium studied our way of playing and initially gave us some problems. We couldn’t do what we wanted, especially when it came to coming up from the back. But it’s understandable to have some issues due to their quality. The fact that we managed to press them high allowed us to score our goal.
“Slovakia is a small country and yet many people have come to Germany. Seeing men, women and children with smiles on their faces… it was perhaps an unexpected victory for them too, as for us. So it affects you. It is a very enriching experience.
What future for Belgium?
Saturday June 22: Romania, Group E (Cologne), 8 p.m. BST, 3 p.m. ET
What future for Slovakia?
Friday June 21 : Ukraine, Group E (Düsseldorf), 2 p.m. BST, 9 a.m. ET
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(Top photo: Thomas Kienzle/AFP via Getty Images)