Kevin de Bruyne's haunting 'prophecy' and the shock to the Belgian team

"Belgium are one of the outsiders at EURO. The FIFA rankings don't reflect everything. When you win a lot in the qualifiers, you get a high ranking and that's why Belgium used to top the FIFA rankings. But that's meaningless in a major tournament. I wouldn't say we're the third best team in the world right now," De Bruyne said ahead of EURO 2024.

De Bruyne's disappointment after defeat to Slovakia

This statement may be De Bruyne, the captain of the Belgian team,'s way of relieving pressure on himself and his teammates. However, it also reflects the fact that they are not at the same level as championship candidates such as England, France, Germany, and Spain. And on the night of June 17, the Belgian team, ranked 3rd in the FIFA rankings, suffered a 0-1 defeat to Slovakia, a team 45 places below them. Looking at the rankings, people say it was an earthquake.

But looking at what happened on the pitch, the defeat of the Belgian team is completely understandable when they played poorly in both attack and defense. Without stars like goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, center-back Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen or even further away Vincent Kompany, the Belgian team's defense became easy to defeat. In the situation leading to the goal, Zeno Debast, Wout Faes did not defend firmly, and Koen Casteels could not block a shot from a tight angle.

The Belgian team's defense also played uncertainly.

They had a moment of lapse in concentration when they thought Ivan Schranz had shot offside. When Belgium launched an attack, the two central defenders Debast and Faes also pushed forward to support. They tried to make passes through the lines or long balls to make a difference but were not effective. The number of accurate passes through the lines of this pair was a big zero. The two full-backs under coach Domenico Tedesco were almost harmless.

Neither Timothy Castagne nor Yannick Carrasco had any impressive attacks and each only made one cross. The Belgian team relied heavily on the breakthrough ability of Jeremy Doku, Leandro Trossard, then Lois Openda, Dode Lukebakio, but against a well-organized defense, this option was not very effective.

Striker Lukaku continues to disappoint

Even when they successfully dribbled past and crossed inside, Romelu Lukaku lacked the sensitivity and luck to score. The Inter Milan striker missed 6 good chances in this match. Perhaps, at some point, De Bruyne wished that the Belgian striker was Erling Haaland instead of Lukaku. On a day when he created 4 finishing chances for his teammates (the most in the match), the Man City midfielder still could not help his team score.

Before the ball rolled, Opta predicted Belgium had a 90% chance of making it out of the group stage. After the loss to Slovakia, that number dropped to 66.5%. And if they continue to perform like this, the FIFA 3rd ranked team could be eliminated from EURO 2024 right from the group stage.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/loi-tien-tri-day-am-anh-cua-kevin-de-bruyne-va-cu-soc-voi-doi-tuyen-bi-185240618154513779.htm