Cologne had been where it all started for Domenico Tedesco, with Belgium. He had made a sensational entry at the head of the Red Devils – after a success in Sweden -, with a victory in a friendly match against Germany (2-3) which had left its mark and established a positive dynamic.
A little less than a year and a half later, Cologne will not be his terminus this Saturday, but it will be a decisive meeting for the rest of his career as a coach. A few kilometers from Belgium, it will be on the verge of elimination in the event of a defeat against Romania, even if the four best third places escape.
Is it unthinkable? It was unthinkable that Belgium would lose on the first day, so we will be careful not to get too far ahead. Ukraine’s success against Slovakia (2-1) this Friday sent the Red Devils back to last place in Group E, with what that implies of pressure. With one match less of course, but it is still an anomaly, which must be corrected without trembling.
Although he stumbled when he appeared on the platform where his press conference took place, Tedesco did not stutter when he spoke. Assured, he ended his speech by saying “I have a good feeling.”
Ukraine’s victory against Slovakia is both a wild card and a danger
He only saw the first half of the match Ukraine’s victory, on the train that brought the team to Cologne – “the wifi was too bad to see the second one”. But he assures that he does not care about others. This result is, however, both a joker and a danger for the Belgians. A joker since a 6 out of 6 from Kevin De Bruyne’s teammates will still allow them to believe in first place.
A trap because any result other than a success will put them in an uncomfortable situation, stuck in fourth place and dependent on Romania – Slovakia which, in the event of a draw, will make them finish, at best, in third place.
Nobody wants to believe in the disaster scenario in the Belgian camp and the repeated positivity, in recent days, was as much a posture as a certainty of the qualities which nourish an individually superior core, with the returns, in addition, of Jan Vertonghen and Arthur Theate in defense – even if it is not this sector which is the most problematic, we will come back to it.
There are also examples from the past, to nourish the hope of better days as we have just moved towards summer – even if this was not seen much, on a day marked by big storms : Belgium also lost its first match, at Euro 2016, against Italy, and that did not prevent it from reaching the quarter-finals.
In 2016, Belgium lost its first match too
Without taking ourselves for a potential winner of the tournament, which Belgium is not, we will add that certain World Cup winners stumbled on the first day: Spain in 2010 and Argentina in 2022. For the anecdote, if it can be useful later in the tournament, the last winner of a Euro who lost their first match was the Netherlands, in 1988.
Another era. The one where Belgium did not qualify for a Euro. Now that she is there, it would be a shame to leave Germany, a little less than two years after the sinking of the Qatar. It would be an even bigger failure this time.
But since the atmosphere is better on this side of Europe than it was on that side of the Middle East, we must therefore believe that everything will end well. Above all, we will see how the team will start, and that was the challenge of a week where, ultimately, we only saw the potential starters for a quarter of an hour, during match eve training. , this Friday.
Between the recovery on Tuesday, the off day on Wednesday and the completely closed training on Thursday, Domenico Tedesco made sure to prepare his plan in the greatest secrecy, to bring down a Romanian team which should give up the ball and the initiative.
guillementI spoke with Romelu (Lukaku), but not only about his missed opportunities.
Against Slovakia, the plan did not yield any goals, but the coach, without leaving any room for doubt, assured: “I watched our match several times, and certain sequences several times. I remain with the same impression: we played a good second half, and a good first.”
So what needs to change? Against Romania, we will have to break with this ugly statistic which shows 47 chances without scoring, in a major tournament. For a long time, the defense was singled out, and it is now on the attack that the attention weighs a little more, the way in which it will be fueled and the way it will finish the actions, without having to resort to VAR , it’s safer.
Romelu Lukaku inevitably came back into the conversations: “We spoke yesterday (THURSDAY)after training, but not just to talk about his missed opportunities, if that’s what you want to knowthe Tedesco glissé. Romelu was present in the match, he cannot score all his chances, even if he has the qualities to do so.” He will have to show them against an opponent who has only conceded five goals in qualifying for the Euro, recalled the coach.
The pressure will therefore increase in the coming hours. We don’t know if Domenico Tedesco is superstitious, but when he dominated Germany in Cologne, he fielded the following team: Casteels; Castagne, Faes, Vertonghen, Theate; Mangala, Onana, De Bruyne; Carrasco, Lukebakio and Lukaku. The team lined up this Saturday will not be far from that one. Seeing Cologne again and winning is kind of the idea.
