Together with Schranz, Spartan Lukáš Haraslín additionally joined the Slovak group’s beginning line-up, Lubomír Tupta from Liberec and Tomáš Rigo from Ostrava remained on the bench. Goalkeepers Martin Dúbravka and Dávid Hancko, who had been among the many key figures of the match, additionally performed within the Czech League previously.
Belgium is the third group within the FIFA rankings and was the clear favourite within the group. The Pink Devils wish to lastly fulfill the excessive expectations and after 44 years cross among the many prime 4 of the match. Within the final two championships, they completed within the quarter-finals. Nonetheless, the preliminary defeat complicates their plans.
“We gave a wonderful and disciplined efficiency. We had been fortunate and that is crucial. It is a well-deserved win towards a prime opponent and that is appreciated,” stated Schranz. “I scored one of many targets of my life, the victory is all of the extra stunning. You possibly can really feel our followers, we owe them a whole lot of thanks and I consider we received them over to our aspect,” he declared.
“Enormous victory, we fought for it. We confirmed character, we fought it again. You additionally want a bit of luck, which we additionally had,” declared Dúbravka. “I knew that Lukaku was offside with the primary purpose. I had little doubt that he wouldn’t pay. The Belgians have their high quality, however it proved what we stated earlier than the match, that if we’re a group, we will overcome people,” stated the Slovakian goalkeeper.
“The boys did their greatest and we beat a fantastic opponent. I advised the group that we’ve got to have the mentality that we will compete with the very best. It is an enormous victory, however we’ve got to maintain working. We have a look at the following video games, we’ve got to attain factors in them too, to meet the purpose and advance,” stated the Italian coach of the Slovakian nationwide group, Francesco Calzona.
Doku’s mistake began the Slovaks
To start with of the match, younger Doku performed an necessary function. First, he escaped from the center of the sector to the penalty space, through De Bruyne the ball reached Lukaku, who didn’t shoot the goalkeeper Dúbravka. Within the seventh minute, the Manchester Metropolis striker made a gross mistake in passing, Kuck’s end was managed by goalkeeper Casteels, however Schranz already despatched the ball into the online from the cease. The assistant initially waved offside, however evaluation of the video confirmed that all the things was high-quality. The ahead from Eden scored his fourth purpose in his twenty third worldwide match.
There was no scarcity of possibilities in the remainder of the course both. After Dúbravka hesitated, Trossard tried to hit the deserted purpose, however shot over the crossbar. On the opposite aspect, Kucka precisely crossed to Haraslín, whose fierce volley Casteels brilliantly headed away. Lukaku ran between the defenders earlier than the break, he needed to go across the goalkeeper, however the ball escaped him.
The Belgians created a whole lot of strain within the second half. Lukaku celebrated an equalizer within the 56th minute, however in his case the video revealed a slender offside and the purpose was disallowed. On Trossard’s probability, Dúbravka pulled away, Lukaku then hit the aspect netting, and substitute Bakayok’s shot was stopped by Hancko on the purpose line. Lukaku additionally scored within the 86th minute, however the video referee detected a slight contact of the hand of the centering Openda and this purpose was additionally disallowed. The Slovaks may thus rejoice at a shocking win.
