Rumours about the Belgium-Romania encounter revolved around how the Red Devils would react after their 1-0 loss to Slovakia in their Group E opener on matchday one of Euro 2024. Will the remnants of a golden generation find inspiration?opposite line to a young and talented Romanian team?
All those doubts were temporarily dispelled when Youri Tielemans, one of four players signed for this match, completed a move he had started in midfield after just 73 seconds in Cologne on Saturday. It is the third fastest goal in the history of the European Championship.
The early goal replaced the goal facet as it relieved Belgium and, secondly, forced Romania, a brilliant team on the counter against Ukraine in their opening game, to go for a goal. Tactically, he has a very different competition.
Belgium did not rest in their objective either: driven by captain Kevin De Bruyne, they continued to advance; He continued to create chances. This was because Romania had shown enough in their first game to recommend that they had the draw in their hands.
That day it turned out not and Belgium added another goal thanks to De Bruyne in the second half. It was simply a compliment for the best team.
Koen Casteels had to make a few saves in the Belgian goal when Radu Drăgușin and Dennis Man tested him, but Romanian goalkeeper Niță had a much busier night.
Much of these paintings are made thanks to Jeremy Doku, who once posed a risk to the opponent. His skill and speed allow him to reach damaging speeds and the only thing he lacks in this level is full touches.
The match also showed how important it is for De Bruyne to care about Belgium. When the game plays out through him, the Red Devils are a different team.
“After the first game I didn’t worry,” De Bruyne later said. “I don’t think we played badly consistently. Of course, we made some mistakes, but we created chances, although we didn’t know them. “to locate the network. We played well in the game [tonight] and I think we deserved the win, so I’m happy, what happens is we create chances and those situations.
What Belgium did in the first two games creates chances, and as long as you create chances you will have chances to score goals, as long as you have chances to score you will have a chance to win. At the end of the day, that’s what football is all about.
Some might argue that Belgium have scored even more goals, but the performances will give Domenico Tedesco’s side plenty of confidence going forward. This will reaffirm the confidence they have in their ability and show that a hungry Belgium is another proposition.
“They are a team with a lot of quality, they have speed, explosiveness and power,” Romanian coach Edward Iordanescu said. “They are a complete team. They are contenders to win the title. We never give up, we fight very hard. In the second half we were better. With a bit of luck maybe we would have scored a point.
Lukaku continued to waste chances and even had a goal disallowed through VAR (by the narrowest margin), but that is to be expected. Maybe, just maybe, it will help keep all the purposes going in this part of the tournament.
The four groups in Group E now have three issues and, at this stage, it is expected to know which groups will qualify. Belgium, in its current form, is expected to defeat Ukraine, while the meeting between Romania and Slovakia is complicated to organize. The unbiased fans, who have everything on the line to qualify for the last round, things simply do not improve.