The match between Belgium and Ukraine in the final match of Group E, EURO 2024 group stage ended in a goalless draw. With this result, Belgium only ranked 2nd on the rankings and met France in the round of 16 while Ukraine packed their bags and went home early.

Detailed report

This is the first time in EURO history that all four teams have three points before entering the final round. The teams in Group E can still be top or bottom when the match ends and there is no room for error. That is why coach Domenico Tedesco fielded Belgium’s strongest lineup, except for Leandro Trossard, who came on to replace the suspended Dodi Lukebakio.

Ukraine are at the biggest disadvantage in the group with a poor goal difference and they are also struggling with squad issues. Striker Mykhailo Mudryk is out injured, while Oleksandr Zinchenko is on the bench after Vitaliy Mykolenko recovered from injury to start for the first time in the tournament.

The switch to a five-man defence saw Ukraine aim to secure a solid defence and wait for a counter-attack to find a goal. This tactic was most effective in the first 45 minutes, as Ukraine completely blocked Belgium’s attacks – the team only created a few dangerous moves thanks to individual efforts from Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s fast-paced attacks also helped Serhiy Rebrov’s players create quite dangerous moves.

Belgium had a weak draw against Ukraine

Entering the second half, the game was still quite tight as Ukraine still accepted to play with a lurking game, accepting to completely give up the game to Belgium. This way of playing made Belgium, despite many personnel changes on the attacking front, unable to have a way to approach goalkeeper Trubin’s goal. The only dangerous chance probably came from a shot from a cannon from outside the penalty area by Yannick Carrasco, but was blocked by the Ukrainian defender.

In the final minutes of the match, Ukraine took the initiative to attack when they had nothing to lose and Belgium did not dare to take risks in attacking. Despite creating a few dangerous situations, Ukraine could not score. In the end, the two teams drew 0-0. This result left Ukraine at the bottom of the table and bowed out of Germany.

In the match at the same time, Slovakia started well against the top team Romania and took the lead quite early thanks to Ondrej Duda in the 24th minute. However, Hagi’s successor, Ianis, brought Romania a penalty kick in the 37th minute and Razvan Marin successfully converted to equalize the score. In the second half, the two teams did not have any more goals and both teams left the field with a 1-1 draw to advance.

In the end, Group E ended with all four teams having 4 points, with Romania in first place, Belgium in second place and Slovakia in third. These three teams will advance to the knockout round.

Football(4-3): Casteels; Castagne, Theate, Faes, Vertonghen; Tielemans (Mangala 62′), Onana, De Bruyne; Trossard (Carrasco 62′), Doku (Bakayoko 77′), Lukaku (Openda 90′).Ukraine (5-3-2): Trubin; Tymchyk, Zabarnyi, Svatok (Yarmolenko 81′), Matvienko, Mykolenko (Zinchenko 58′); Shaparenko (Vanat 70′), Brazhko (Stepanenko 70′), Sudakov; Yaremchuk (Malinovskyi 70′), Dovbyk.