World No.48 Slovakia have caused a major upset in the Euro 2024 as they have stunned the World No.3 Belgium in their tournament opener at Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt. Ivan Schranz netted the lone goal of the match when he opened the scoring sheets off a rebound off Koen Casteels in the first half of the match.
The Belgian side threw the kitchen sink, looking for an equaliser but it could not manage to pull a goal back against a spirited Slovakia side. Romelu Lukaku's two goals were ruled out after VAR assistance.
Schranz opened the sheet with a seventh-minute strike. A bit of sloppiness from the Belgian side saw the ball falling to Slovakia's Róbert Boženík, whose initial shot was saved by goal-saver Casteels. But the ball rolled back to Schranz, who fired a kick from a tight angle into the far corner.
Lukaku had netted the ball twice. But his attempts were not counted as on the first one, he was found to be offside when his teammate Onana passed a header to the striker. The second one was also deemed a no-goal after Lukaku got an assist from Loïs Openda. The Leipzig man got a hand on the ball on his way to pass it to a waiting Lukaku near the centre of the box. Even though he netted it, the referee overturned it after looking at the VAR.
Notably, Slovakia have broken a big streak of the Belgian side. Belgium were unbeaten in their last 14 matches ever since Domenico Tedesco took over the role of the manager. From February 2023, Belgium have played 14 matches, winning 10 and playing 4 other draws.
"It is a pity. The first 20 minutes we were really good and we make such a mistake for which we are punished," Belgium captain Kevin de Bruyne said after the match.
"In the second half it was better, we upped the tempo. We deserved to win but did not score and that is the way it is. Apart from a few other chances we didn't give much away. We adjusted some things at halftime and then played well. We pushed, we created chances. We certainly deserved to at least a draw because we didn't play badly," he added.
