GROUP B
Finland 1-2 Belgium
Pukki 7'
Lukaku 22'
de Bruyne 38'
Eamonn Foster
St Petersburg, Russia
Monday 22nd June
In a tournament which generously allows more than half of the 24 competing teams to advance through to the knockout stages, it appears that Belgium, the pre-tournament favourites of many, have contrived to fail to make it through, having managed to beat Finland by a single goal. It will not be known for certain until Wednesday if Belgium are eliminated, but it looks a pretty safe bet to say three points and a goal difference of -1 will not be enough to see Roberto Martinez’s side stay in the competition as one of the four ‘best’ third-place teams. And given how so many Belgian supporters left early as their side looked increasingly short of ideas and unlikely to extend their lead further, it is also safe to assume that few of the travelling Belgian contingent will be staying tuned to see which of the tournament’s twelve cities they ought to be booking their flights to next.
Talk in the Belgian pre-match press conference centred around whether Belgium would be able to score several goals against the Finns in the hope that a significant positive goal difference could turn out to make all the difference between progressing and not. Martinez, the Belgian coach, was all smiles as he talked up Lukaku’s goalscoring prowess, de Bruyne’s immense quality in midfield and the wealth of quality alternative options as his star player Hazard remained unavailable, having been injured in the first half of the opening match against Russia. The thing is, everybody knows about the Belgians’ quality; what needed to be addressed was their form, and the fact that since Hazard left the field last week his team have looked so short of ideas and inspiration that they went into this match with the very real possibility of not only not qualifying, but of actually finishing bottom of Group B with zero points.
Meanwhile the Finns enjoyed the opportunity to continue as underdogs, knowing that they would not allow Lukaku and co to pass easily and that there is quality in their side which was not really being spoken about- including in the Belgian camp.
This appeared to be the case when a rare miscued pass from De Bruyne was intercepted by Rangers’ Glen Kamara on the halfway line, who was allowed to carry the ball some thirty yards towards goal before it occurred to any Belgian player to make a significant attempt to make some kind of intervention. It was Yoeri Tielemans who did so, pulling Kamara’s shirt so blatantly the yellow card was inevitable as Kamara was forced to the ground. Instead of protesting or rolling around, however, Kamara had the speed of thought to take the subsequent free-kick immediately and play in Pukki, stood a yard behind Jan Vertonghen, who was busy barking orders at Dries Mertens to track back. Pukki received the ball from Kamara and with his first touch took Vertonghen out of the equation and allowed himself the choice of where to aim his shot: positioning himself as if he was going to put his laces through the ball, eyeing up the top corner to Thibaut Courtois’ left, he deceived everyone by halting momentarily and dinking the ball to Courtois’ right, tantalisingly close to the floored Real Madrid’s goalkeeper right foot. As Pukki wheeled away in celebration, protestations by the Belgians that Pukki had surely been offside when receiving the freekick were correctly dismissed by the referee, who pointed out that Toby Alderweireld had been playing the Norwich forward onside. Pukki, having scored ten in ten games during qualification, had now continued his wonderful 1:1 goal ratio by opening the scoring here in Russia, netting his third in as many games, and leaving the Belgians with an even bigger task than they had at kick-off.
Falling a goal behind did at least finally put some fire in the bellies of the Belgians, who made a concerted effort to advance on the Finnish goal and generally play more like a team that is familiar with one another. Mertens, Tielemans and Eden Hazard’s brother, Thorgan, began to see the ball much more frequently and ran at the Finnish back line. Lukaku, too, began to see the ball.
The Belgians’ equalizer was not long in coming. A Belgian move involving 34 passes culminated in a swerving drive from De Bruyne on the edge of the box. The Uniforia ball whizzed and wobbled through the air before smacking the centre of the post and rebounding with force at the unfortunately placed Finnish defender Paulus Arajuuri, who was unable to move his legs in time to avoid it bouncing off his knees and falling right into the path of the grateful Lukaku, who made no mistake as he lashed the ball mercilessly into the Finnish net to make it 1-1.
It seemed now that the Belgians were finding their feet. For the next fifteen minutes it was all Belgian red shirts buzzing around the pitch as the Finns did their utmost to stand firm. Unfortunately for the Finns, though, when they did see the ball they constantly tried but were constantly unable to find their talisman Pukki, and as such their main threat had been neutralized. The Belgians imposed further authority on the 38th minute mark when De Bruyne tried his luck from range again. Combining again with Lukaku, who with his back to goal on the edge of the Finnish penalty area, used his enormous frame as a shield to protect the ball, laid the ball off to De Bruyne at the perfect moment and the Manchester City midfielder showed his quality yet again as he curled the ball first-time into the top corner of Lukáš Hrádecký’s goal. It was a strike of the finest quality but was met with little more than a momentary flash of a smile before he solemnly picked the ball from the net and ushered his teammates back for the restart, eager to start something of a rout in a bid to boost their goal difference.
But it was not to be for the Belgians. In the second half the Belgians probed but the Finns toiled, determined to have one more role in the tournament’s storyline. Divock Origi and Michy Batshauyi were thrown on after an hour but when De Bruyne was withdrawn on 75 minutes, to the midfielder’s obvious bemusement, it was clear that the Belgians sensed their time was up. As the Belgians petered out in St Petersburg, the Finns took heart from seeing that their efforts were still influencing Euro 2020 and in fact Pukki even had the very last laugh when his speculative half-volley grazed Courtois’ crossbar with ten minutes remaining. When the final whistle sounded, the Belgian players embraced the Finnish players with all of the usual familiarity and respect, but the look in the eyes of those in red shirts was one of jaded disbelief.
Man of the Match: Kevin De Bruyne