The show was not there between Belgium and Ukraine (0-0). While Romania finished first thanks to a draw (1-1) against Slovakia, the Red Devils will be the opponents of the French team in the 1/8 finals of this Euro.
In a particularly undecided Group E with 4 teams with 3 points, the identity of the future opponent of the Blues in the 1/8 finals was far from being known. Second at kick-off, the Belgium was struggling with theUkraine4th at kickoff.
The stake kills the game
Still in search of his first validated goal, Romelu Lukaku must… wait a little longer. Served by Kevin de Bruyne on the left side of the area, the attacker made his way to strike but his attempt, too crushed, posed no problem for Anatoly Trubin (7e).
For the first 20 minutes, that was pretty much all that was exciting, with both teams refusing, for the moment, to reveal themselves. Roman Yaremchuk was the first Ukrainian to try but his shot was caught by Koen Casteels (20th). The highlight of the Zbirna continued with a completely failed attempt atArtem Dovbyk (21e).
On the other side of the field, Arthur Theate fired a shot from the left: enough to create a thrill but in reality clearly off target (23rd).
In the other match, the Slovakia opened the scoring against the Romaniaso that Belgians and Ukrainians were qualified.
For his second exploitable situation, Dovbyk put Road Faes in the wind but instead of moving on, he procrastinated, looking for Yaremchuk to finally give way to Goergiy Sudakov who sent the ball into the stands (27th).
The Red Devils dressed in their Tintin jersey worried Trubin after half an hour of play. But it was not through a constructed action but through an off-center free kick 30 meters from De Bruyne who wanted to surprise the Ukrainian goalkeeper but found the small outside net (33rd).
Meanwhile, Romania equalized from the penalty spot, which changed nothing for Belgium, still 2nd, but pushed Ukraine to 4th place (37th).
Zbirna once again suffered from an excess of “non-individualism”, this time with Yaremchuk, receiving a combination between Mykola Matvyendko and Sudakov, who favored Dovbyk rather than playing her personally (42nd). Sudakov then found the target from a free kick, without causing any problems for Casteels (44th).
The last word of the first period went to De Bruyne who, at the edge of the area, aimed at the near post but Trubin was not trapped even though the solution at the far post was the most obvious (45th+1 ).
Ukraine does not force its destiny
The second act began with a period of Belgian domination, punctuated by two shots in quick succession. Youri Tielemans, much less in legs than against Romania (53rd). A spark flew when De Bruyne launched Jérémy Doku but the citizen connection was not validated by Lukaku, too short to cut the trajectory of the center to the line of the former Rennais (58th).
Domenico Tedesco made a double change: Tielemans and Leandro Trossardonce again not very prominent, have been replaced by Original Mangala et Yannick Carrasco (62e).
If Lukaku was too soft on a shot on target captured by Trubin (65th), he was perfect in controlling an interception from Mangala, getting in the direction of the game and, from the central circle, directing towards Carrasco. Rather than shifting De Bruyne to his right, the former Colchonero went alone and the door closed, which led to a weak shot (67th).
Forced to bring in Oleksandr Zinchenko after the injury of Vitali Mykolenko (58e), Sergiy Rebrov has massively injected new meaning into the dawn of money time: Taras Stepanenko, Ruslan Malinovskiy et Vladislav Vanat took the places of Volodymyr Brazhko, Mykola Shaparenko et Yaremchuk (70e).
Before Dovbyk was defeated by Faes, perfect in his defensive anticipation (73rd), Carrasco took advantage of a nice pivot from “BigRom” to unleash a powerful half-volley boxed by Trubin (73rd). The match was finally coming to life! johan bakayoko succeeded Doku (77th).
Right footed, Dovbyk in turn found the outside net (79th). Only a change in the score in the other match seemed able to save Zbirna. Oleksander Svatok returned to the bench, for the benefit ofAndriy Yarmolenko (80th). An offensive choice to force the passage. Vigilant, Casteels avoided a direct corner hit at the near post by Malinovskiy (83rd). The former playerABOUT had a second chance but Stepanenko was unable to lower his head (83rd).
De Bruyne replied. The Belgian captain found space to serve Lukaku who got rid of the marking with his characteristic style before crossing for Bakayoko but Matvyendko was able to ward off the danger (85th). The PSV player found an angle to strike, shifted by KDB in relay of a counter initiated by Carrasco, but his left shot did not turn enough to hit the top corner (86th).
Ukraine had a qualifying ball in the 88th minute: served behind at 20 meters, Malinovskiy fired a warhead… on Timothy Castagne who sacrificed himself, with after-effects (88th). She had a second with a breakthrough from Sudakov which ended with a low shot blocked by Casteels (90th + 1).
At the end of a soporific match, Ukraine is eliminated, while Romania finishes first in group E, ahead of Belgium who will face France on Monday July 1 at 6 p.m., and Slovakia, qualified among the best thirds.
