Euro 2020 takeaways: Belgium makes its one shot count in win over defending champion Portugal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2021 (1918 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Belgium and its golden generation of players have long waited for a win like the one they pulled off against Portugal on Sunday.

Time and again this country, and this particular squad of Belgian players, has arrived at major tournaments like Euro 2020 brimming with expectation. The team has played in games like Sunday’s before, the kind of match with such quality between the two teams that it earns “final before the final” billing. Too often, Belgium has come out on the wrong end of such games.

A 1-0 victory over Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal on Sunday was a businesslike performance, the kind teams like No. 1-ranked Belgium should be able to grind out, no matter how dominant the defending champions were at times.

The Portuguese often carried the play, particularly in the second half when Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois had to make a reflexive safe off the line at close range to deny a header from Rúben Dias, or minutes later when Raphaël Guerrero hit a low range shot off the bottom of the post. More than once Ronaldo loomed threateningly over a free kick, and Renato Sanches and João Félix, with the way they controlled the attack, left the impression that this will be a squad to watch in the future, no matter what its veteran talisman decides to do with his international career over the next few years.

But Sunday’s performance was about Belgium, who had six shots to Portugal’s 23 and only one on target. It was Thorgan Hazard who made it count, with a long-range effort in the 42nd minute that solidified the 28-year-old as Belgium’s most influential player in this tournament. He didn’t earn Sunday’s win alone, though. Hazard’s brother, Eden, logged more kilometres in midfield than he has in a long while. Striker Romelu Lukaku gave his defence the occasional respite with his holdup play, running alone at two, three or four defenders at a time. Dries Mertens broke up Portugal’s playmaking left and right after he came on as a substitute, and Courtois stood tall time and again against teh Portuguese onslaught.

Things won’t get any easier for the Belgians, who find themselves on the far tougher side of this tournament’s draw. Italy, unbeaten in 31 games, is next, another match that could have easily been played later in the competition had the draw gone another way. But Belgium can, and should, take confidence from the fact that it found a way to win against Portugal.

• What was the cost? It didn’t look like it as he celebrated his team’s win but Belgian manager Roberto Martinez’s first concern will be the health of his players. Midfield star Kevin De Bruyne, who only just came back from facial fractures suffered in the Champions League final last month, asked to be substituted in the second half because of an injury after being tackled from behind by Portugal’s Joao Palhinha earlier in the game. He walked off the field with a slight limp, seemingly pointing at his left ankle. And Eden Hazard, who has also had fitness problems of late, was seen grabbing at his hamstring before he was substituted from the match in the latter stages.

• Dutch dagger: It won’t be soon before Matthijs de Ligt forgets about the Netherlands’ Euro 2020 exit, unfortunately for him.

The Dutch defence was always going to be a question mark as they faced the Czech Republic in the round of 16 but an egregious decision from de Ligt to handle the ball to keep it away from imposing striker Patrik Schick threw his team into chaos early in the second half. De Ligt slipped and flipped the ball with his left hand to prevent the Czech striker from gaining possession. But referee Sergey Karasev immediately gave a free kick and a yellow card, which was later upgraded to a red card after a VAR check.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

The Warm-Up

Winnipeg Jets Game Days

On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.

Sign up for The Warm-Up

Sign Up

I consent to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies.

I consent to CASL agreement.

It was a huge blow to a Dutch defence that was already without injured linchpin Virgil van Dijk, and the team almost immediately collapsed against a physical Czech side that hadn’t hesitated to press high from early on.

The Czechs’ eventual 2-0 upset over the Netherlands presents a mouth-watering opportunity for one of the tournament’s remaining dark horses. With most of the competition’s heavyweights on the other side of the draw, there is a pathway to a historic run for the Czechs, whose direct style of play could trouble more sides than just the Dutch over the next couple of weeks.

The Czechs will face Denmark in the quarterfinals.

• Up next: Luka Modrić and Croatia take on Spain in Copenhagen at 12 p.m. ET Monday. The Spanish broke out in their final group-stage match, beating Slovakia 5-0, but were otherwise lackadaisical in attack in the round robin. Whether or not Spain needs to be its best up front likely depends on how heavily involved Modrić is in Croatia’s attack. If he’s further up the field and pulling the strings for Croatia, Spain will need to be at its most incisive to best him and Croatia.

France and Switzerland meet in Bucharest at 3 p.m. ET. The Swiss, third-best among the third-place teams in the group stage, have an uphill battle against the tournament favourites but, as Sunday proved, anything can happen in 90 minutes. Underestimate your opponent at your own peril.

Laura Armstrong is a Star sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @lauraarmy