The match will kick-off at 17:00 GMT on Monday, June 17, 2024.
Belgium vs Slovakia Prediction
Full-Time Result Prediction: Belgium can get their European Championship campaign off to a flier with a comfortable victory over Slovakia. With the quality of Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku it would be no surprise to see them put in a convincing performance and get the win here.
Goals Market Prediction: The Red Devils have the ability to rack up the goals. Backing Over 2.5 looks like a wise play, with Belgium set to make a fast start.
Both Teams to Score (BTTS): Slovakia may have scored 17 goals in their qualifying campaign, but in the last 12 months they have failed to find the net against Austria and Portugal. This is a cause for concern against a defence like Belgium’s and we fancy both teams not to score here.
First Goalscorer Prediction: Romelu Lukaku has an outstanding record in front of goal for his national side. The big man has 83 goals in 114 international matches and it would be no surprise to see him open the scoring here.
Correct Score Prediction: Belgium will be looking to send out a statement that they have the ability to win the tournament and a massive 4-0 victory is what we are plumping for in their opener.
Key Battle: The matchup between Romelu Lukaku and Milan Skriniar will be an interesting one. The pair know each other from their time at Inter Milan but there will be no love lost between these two physical specimens who often act as pillars of stability for their national team.
Tactical Approach: It’s been a positive start to life as Belgium’s manager Domenic Tedesco. The Italian-born German loves to attack and has a philosophy of dividing the space well and winning the ball back quickly in order to control any transitions.
Belgium Latest Team News
There’s no denying that the second coming of Belgium’s Golden Generation has let them down a little. For a nation that has been ranked inside FIFAs top five for a whole decade they have just a single third place at a World Cup to show for it.
Some of their big players from this generation are still burning quite brightly, Kevin De Bruyne has demonstrated his class again for Manchester City this season, and Romelu Lukaku dominated European Championships Qualification with over 2 goals per 90 minutes in the campaign, but the supplementation of these established stars with some breaking talents looks to be helping Belgium maintain their standards.
We can expect De Bruyne’s teammate Jeremy Doku and Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard to battle over the wide left spot, with Johan Bakayoko to get the nod on the other side of Lukaku and De Bruyne. There will be legs and tough tackling in the midfield with Nottm Forest’s Mangala in there alongside, potentially, Aster Vranckx, or possibly Everton’s Amadou Onana.
Jan Vertonghen still leads the Belgian defence, 154 caps and counting, but he does have younger legs arouns him in Leicester’s Wout Faes, Fulham’s Timothy Castagne, and Arthur Theate. With the injury to Thibault Courtois, Belgium do have a question mark in goal. Forest’s Mats Sels is in decent shape to play, but Koen Casteels could be given the nod instead. Luton’s Thomas Kaminski made his senior Belgian debut this season too.
Slovakia Latest Team News
Slovakia are an exceptionally competant team, as shown by winning seven of their eight matches in qualification against teams not named Portugal.
They may have lost Marek Hamzik to retirement, but there is plenty of experience in this team, many of hope have been to multiple Euorpean Champioship finals.
Robert Mak plies his trade at Sydney now but he should support Boavista’s Robert Bozenik and Lukas Haraslin in attack. Jan Kucka is 37 at this stage, so this will likely be his last major tounrament, and he makes up a midfield with foul magnet Ondrej Duda, and Napoli’s Stanislav Lobotka. The defence will be lead by Milan Skriniar, now at Paris St-Germain, so there is a real spine of quality, experienced pros to this Slovakian line-up
There isn’t much by way of talented youth coming into the squad at this moment in time, so Slovakia may have to continue to rely those experienced pros for progress in this tournament.