The last of the second set of group matches rounds off a busy Saturday at Euro 2024 as we head back to Group E to see if Belgium can get their campaign back on track when they take on Romania in the evening clash in Cologne.
Belgium would not have expected to be going into their second match of the competition needing a result to stay alive in it but that is the case they find themselves in. Romania know if they avoid defeat they will be into the next phase.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the ITV1 channel in the UK with the build-up to the game beginning at 7.10pm ahead of the 8pm kick off out in Germany.
Belgium
After a very disappointing World Cup campaign, the last thing that Belgium needed was to get off to another slow start in this tournament but that is exactly what happened when they went down 1-0 to Slovakia. You could argue that they should have got something from the game but they didn’t and now they will need to find a ruthless edge else they are going to disappear from a second competition in succession without landing any sort of impression on it.
Belgium certainly had the chances to get a very comfortable win over Slovakia in their first match, and the form of it definitely hasn’t been franked since then, but creating opportunities and scoring goals are different things entirely and they need to make sure they do that here. They weren’t under massive pressure defensively in the first game but the fact that they couldn’t keep a clean sheet in that situation would certainly be a worry.
Romania
You have to feel a little sorry for Romania. They went into this tournament written off by everyone, myself included, but even when they delivered an emphatic display and performance in the opening game they have people suggesting that the result was because Ukraine didn’t turn up. They probably won’t care about that though because they don’t just have an opening win on the board, they have a solid 3-0 win to their name and they only need to stay upright now to move into the second round.
It will be interesting to see just how adventurous Romania are in this match. A draw suits them perfectly fine and will ensure their progression to the next stage but if they want to be imaginative and go after this game they could all but win the group. Even were they to lose the game they would in all likelihood only need to draw their last game to go through unless they take a beating here. We’ll certainly find out a little more about their team in this one.
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Team News
Belgium are still expected to be without Thomas Meunier so defensively they could well be unchanged but the impact that Lois Openda had off the bench in the opener could see him coming into the side in place of Leandro Trossard.
Romania have no reason to change anything after the near perfect opening match performance. Any changes they do make could be because of a change in style or to rest certain players for the final group game.
Betting
If both teams play as they did in their opening game then you have to think that Belgium will come out on top here. I say that because although they went down to Slovakia in that opener they had 16 shots which should be more than enough to win a game of football with the level of personnel that they have at their disposal. They also have the potential to change things and not weaken their side should they wish to after the short turnaround.
I’m still not convinced that Romania are anything like as good as they showed against Ukraine. I do think that Ukraine are architects of their own downfall in that match and I don’t expect Belgium to be as timid as Ukraine were and I don’t expect their keeper to contribute to two opposition goals. This is a Belgium side who scored 22 goals in eight qualifying matches and now that Romelu Lukaku has had a match to get up to speed I expect a comfortable Belgium win here.
Tips
Back Belgium (-1.25AH) to beat Romania for a 3/10 stake at 2.03 with Bet365
