Slovakia ride their luck and VAR to stun Belgium

June 17 – The most unwanted label in football has to be the ‘Golden Generation’ – just ask England circa 2002-06. At Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park, Belgium’s ‘GG’ were keen to prove that the label, which has hung heavily around their necks since 2014, still had some luster left. 

It took their opponents, Slovenia, all of six minutes to take the shine off as they capitalised on a Romelu Lukaku miss, with Ivan Schranz scoring his fourth international goal after Lukas Haraslin’s fierce shot was palmed away by Belgium keeper Koen Casteels.

Schranz still had plenty of work to do, however, and he deftly curled his first-time volley into the far corner. The Belgian defence raised their arms in the hope that Schranz had strayed offside, but unfortunately for Dominic Tedesco’s ‘GG’, the odds weren’t in his team’s favour.

Any side boasting the likes of Jeremy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne and Leandro Trossard will create chances, but it was Slovenian goalkeeper and Newcastle favourite Martin Dubravka who gave the Belgians their next big chance.

Koen Casteels of Belgium dives to save

His inability to clear the ball with any conviction left Trossard with an empty net to aim for from just outside the area. The Arsenal man found the target… if you’re aiming for row Z, sending his effort over the bar when it looked easier to score.

With these near misses, you would have thought Slovenia would start to think this was their day, but they seemed allergic to the grass in Belgium’s defensive half, rarely venturing there.

In the 40th minute, they finally found their courage and put together a fine move which culminated in a superb volley from striker Robert Bozenik which Casteels brilliantly parried away for a corner.

Two minutes later our old friend Lukaku, who has scored a staggering 85 goals in 115 international appearances, wasted another chance proving that his habit of disappearing at major tournaments hasn’t changed.

Jeremy Doku of Belgium…


Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/06/17/slovakia-ride-luck-var-stun-belgium/

Author : Paul Nicholson

Publish date : 2024-06-17 19:02:42

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