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Belgium v Slovakia
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Kick Off: Monday 17th June at 17:00
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Watch Live: ITV1
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Competition: Euro 2024
Belgium begin their latest quest to end a century-long wait for silverware when they meet Slovakia on matchday one in Group E at the Frankfurt Area on Monday evening.
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Still bristling from their group stage exit at the last World Cup, Belgium have pride to restore in Germany this summer and they have been tipped to make light work of their opponents in Group E – starting with Slovakia.
Slovakia meanwhile, who are positioned in 48th place in the latest FIFA rankings, are perhaps the least-fancied side in the section and though they are competing in their third European Championships on the spin, they will kick off Monday’s contest as massive underdogs.
Belgium v Slovakia Best Bets
Slovakia averaged 1.70 goals per game and scored in all but one of their eight Euro 2024 qualification fixtures, and they play with enough endeavour in attack to notch against Belgian defence with injury headaches to contend with at the back.
Belgium’s haul of 33 goals in 14 fixtures since January 2023 included 22 strikes in eight qualifiers however, and they’ve registered in 16 successive matches in the European Championship proper since June 2016 (0-2 vs Italy). On that evidence, backing both teams to score at 1.83 on Monday looks like a smart manoeuvre.
All-time record scorer Romelu Lukaku was at his clinical best during Belgium’s qualification run and the 85-goal frontman bagged a brace in his team’s final friendly against Luxembourg on June 8th. The former Man Utd forward is a generous 2.00 to net anytime again against Slovakia.
His teammate, Amadou Onana, jumps off the page as a player with potential in the over 1.5 fouls market at 2.20. The 22-year-old was a serial fouler for Everton in the Premier League last season where he gave away at least two free kicks in 12 separate matches.
Onana, who fouled seven times in four qualifiers for Belgium, will share midfield with Slovakia’s Ondrej Duda and Juraj Kucka on Monday, and that savvy pair were fouled a bone-bruising 39 times between them across the Falcons’ Euro 2024 qualifiers.
📂 Belgium v Slovakia Cheat Sheet
There are so many ways to use our Cheat Sheets and we encourage you to find your own formula to pick a winning bet builder, however, if you’re unsure of how to use a Cheat Sheet, just click the link for some quick tips to help you make the most of it.
You can find Belgium v Slovakia match stats, on my bet builder stats tool, along with official line-ups one hour before kick-off.
⚔️ Belgium v Slovakia Head-to-Head
Previous meetings between Belgium and Slovakia have been sparse, to say the least, and the nations’ last rendezvous came all the way back in 2013 in a friendly encounter in Brugge.
The Belgians scored in the dying embers of that fixture through Dries Mertens to beat Slovakia 2-1 on that occasion, and the teams locked horns just twice before that.
In 2006, Slovakia and Belgium shared the spoils following a 1-1 friendly draw in Trnava and four years before that, they proved impossible to split again when they drew another international friendly in Brussels (1-1). That draw in 2002 preceded Belgium’s involvement at the 2002 World Cup.
📊 Belgium Form and Stats
With their golden generation entering their golden years, the mood in Belgium has been muted ahead of Euro 2024 and pre-tournament expectations are as low as they’ve been in ten years.
Managed by Italian tactician Domenico Tedesco, Belgium still cantered to qualification as the unbeaten winners of Group F, pocketing 20 points from a possible 24 while netting an impressive 22 times along the way.
Indeed, Belgium haven’t lost a qualification fixture for either the World Cup or European Championships since 2015, a run of 40 matches (W35, D5) without defeat, while Tedesco still hasn’t been beaten as Belgian boss since his appointment in February 2023.
The dominant Belgians averaged a shade over 61% possession per game despite sharing a tricky-looking group they shared with Sweden and Austria, and averaged 15 shots per game along the way while conceding 8.50 per contest at the other end. They also collected just 13 bookings across eight games (avg 1.62 pg).
Belgium were a little over-reliant on Romelu Lukaku for goals, however, and the 31-year-old hit 14 of Les Diables Rouges’ 22 goals himself. That haul included two hattricks and a four-goal burst in one sitting against Azerbaijan.
Lukaku is Belgium’s all-time leading scorer at major tournaments and if he finds the net twice at Euro 2024, he will move into the top three all-time goalscorers in the history of the European Championship.
Belgium capped their preparations for Euro 2024 with routine back-to-back wins over Montenegro (2-0) and Luxembourg (3-0), though both games had low attendances which points to the lack of buzz about Belgium’s prospects in Germany.
Another clean sheet might be a tougher ask on Monday with several problems to contend with in defence, however. Defenders Jan Vertonghen, Arthur Theate and Thomas Meunier could all miss out on Monday through injury and forced into a reshuffle, Domenico Tedesco might be forced to include some less experienced understudies.
📊 Slovakia Form and Stats
Slovakia’s passage to Euro 2024 was relatively smooth and picking up 2.20 points per game, they eased into second spot in Group J behind star-studded Portugal.
Stiff tests in that section were few and far between for Slovakia, who won 70% of their qualification matches, and while they did lose both encounters with the Portuguese, margins were slim on each occasion (3-2, 1-0).
The Sokoli have lost only three times in 17 fixtures in total since September 2022 and they haven’t lost by more than two goals in a game since a 5-0 thumping at the hands of Spain in June 2021.
Expectations are understandably low, however, you should expect Slovakia to be competitive and Italian manager Francesco Calzano will relish the opportunity to test his tactical nous against his compatriot in the Belgian dugout.
Calzano had been juggling roles between his national team duties on an interim manager’s job at Napoli since February, though Slovakian preparations and performances don’t seem to have been affected.
Slovakia take a strong spine to Germany with PSG’s Milan Škriniar’s captaining the side from the back, Napoli’s Stanislav Lobotka setting the tempo in midfield and Boavista up-and-comer Róbert Boženík leading the line.
With their possession-based approach under Calzano, they averaged 55.2% possession in their qualification group and posted figures of 44% and 42% in their meetings with Portugal in Group J, so don’t expect Belgium to have it all their own way on Monday.
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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