After losing 1-0 to lower-ranked Slovakia in their Group E opening, much-fancied Belgium had a poor start to their Euro 2024 campaign.
The hero of Slovakia was Ivan Schranz, who took advantage of a mistake by Jeremy Doku, collected the deflection from Juraj Kucka’s goal, and skillfully guided the ball into the far corner from a tight angle. This move was confirmed by long VAR review.
Romelu Lukaku didn’t have quite as much luck. In the second half, Belgium’s top scorer had the ball in the net twice; however, both times, VAR stepped in to annul goals.
In a bid to make up for a poor first half, the No. 9 thundered home Amadou Onana’s cross in the 56th minute, but was flagged for a toe offside. A minute later, he completed a brilliant move to plant Lois Openda’s cross beyond Martin Dubravka.
Although Openda’s hand appeared to be the only point of contact for the ball throughout the build-up, VAR quickly identified the error and advised referee Halil Umut Meler to examine the play again. He did, and he duly took the video official’s suggestion, controversially rejecting Lukaku again.
Despite creating four “big chances”—their highest in a Euros match since 1980 against Spain—Domenico Tedesco’s team was mostly flat and irritating and was unable to break through resolute Slovakia, who together with Romania lead Group E.
Slovakia will now play Ukraine on Friday knowing that a victory would advance them to the round of 16.
Belgium head coach Domenico Tedesco: “The only thing that we didn’t do well was taking chances. We had plenty. It’s part of the game. Of course the players were disappointed.
“We had many chances, we pressed high. Normally you don’t lose this game. It hurts.”
Speaking about two VAR decisions to deny Belgium an equaliser, he added: “I want to be a fair loser – we trust the referees.”
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