Belgium – Slovakia: Bravery Pays Off (0-1)

Slovakia arrived into this game with a brave approach, pressing high and looking to play an expansive possession game. They were rewarded with an early goal, but had to ride their luck slightly against a dangerous Belgium attack in order to secure the win.

This tactical preview has been written by Josh Manley.

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Belgium come into this tournament with a young squad looking to go further than the Golden Generation that came before them. However, much of the discussion prior to the tournament has been around the exclusion of Thibaut Courtois after a public feud with coach Domenico Tedesco.

Tedesco’s side lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation for this game, with Timothy Castagne, Zeno Debast, Wout Faes, and Yannick Carrasco in the back four. Amadou Onana and Orel Mangala were the double pivot, while Kevin De Bruyne played number ten. Jérémy Doku and Leandro Trossard started in the wide positions either side of striker Romelu Lukaku.

Slovakia played in a 4-3-3 system under Francesco Calzona who has tried to bring a more ambitious style of attacking football to the national team since taking over. Veteran Peter Pekarík was in the defensive line along with Denis Vavro, Milan Škriniar, and Dávid Hancko, while Stanislav Lobotka played as the deepest midfielder. The experienced Juraj Kucka and Ondrej Duda were ahead of him, supporting a front three of Ivan Schranz, Róbert Boženík, and Lukáš Haraslín.

Proactive Slovakia

Calzona’s side made a dream start to the game as they were able to turn the ball over in Belgium’s third from a high pressing situation and capitalize by finding the net courtesy of Schranz. This was typical of their approach in the game, whereby they were unafraid to impose their own proactive playing style despite being underdogs.

Without the ball, they pressed in a 4-3-3 shape, attempting to play the game in Belgium’s half rather than dropping off early. The central midfielders were quite aggressive in this pressing, with the ball-near central midfielder often pushing up alongside the striker in order to pressure Belgium’s backline. Alternatively, they would mark Belgium’s double pivot to cut off Belgium’s options around the ball.

Belgium shifted into a 3-4-1-2 shape against Slovakia’s possession game.

When they had the ball, Slovakia were similarly ambitious, playing an expansive possession game with positional ideas. The wingers were high and wide, while the central midfielders attempted to get beyond Belgium’s double pivot to allow Slovakia to play through the thirds and beat lines of pressure with the ball on the ground.

Belgium defended against this in a relatively man-oriented fashion. From their nominal 4-2-3-1 shape, they transitioned into a 3-4-1-2 shape without the ball when they tried to press. This involved Trossard pushing up alongside Lukaku, while Doku dropped slightly on the right to play as a temporary wing-back.

Against this set-up, Slovakia were able to put together some slick moves at times, finding some nice third man ideas and leveraging the technical proficiency of Lobotka in midfield along with Kucka and Duda who put in very capable performances.

Belgian misfortune

The Belgians were able to create some good chances through the game and were arguably unlucky to end the game without a goal, especially with two goals narrowly disallowed by VAR in the second half.

Belgium attacked in a 4-2-3-1 system with much of the attacking plan revolving around width. The double pivot were positioned in a relatively flat manner and struggled to get into the game. Furthermore, they often lacked presence in the halfspaces, but this seemed at least partly intentional as they preferred to play around Slovakia, rather than through.

Doku and Trossard were stationed high and wide, and Belgium tried to get the ball to them relatively quickly, including by using switches of play where possible. Trossard would often look to link with De Bruyne between the lines after receiving the ball, while Doku threatened the defense with his trademark dribbling. Belgium would also look to exploit the space in behind Slovakia’s defensive line early when Slovakia pressed high.

Belgium’s possession shape suited playing around the Slovakia press, rather than through. 

As the game went on in the second half, Slovakia ended up giving up more of the possession share and territory as Belgium pushed for an equalizer. Tedesco made his first change just before the hour mark, bringing Johan Bakayoko on for Mangala.

This change saw De Bruyne moving back alongside Onana, while Trossard played as the number ten and Bakayoko played on the right. Doku now played on the left, as he had done since half time when he switched wings with Trossard. De Bruyne added an extra dimension to the double pivot with his playmaking ability, and was still able to push forward alongside Trossard when appropriate.

Belgium created some of their best chances shortly after this change, and it seemed only a matter of time before the equalizer arrived. Slovakia made their first changes shortly afterwards, freshening up the front line with David Strelec and Tomáš Suslov replacing Róbert Boženík and Lukáš Haraslín.

Belgium made further changes with Youri Tielemans replacing Trossard, plus Loïs Openda and Dodi Lukebakio replacing Doku and Carrasco. Slovakia were still trying to avoid getting pushed too deep in their own half, which nearly cost them when a ball over the top was chased by Openda who assisted Lukaku in finding the net, however the goal was ruled out for a handball by Openda, and Slovakia eventually ended up securing their 1-0 win.

Takeaways

With the chances they created along with the two disallowed goals, Belgium will feel unlucky not to have managed at least a point here. They showed an ability to be fast and direct with their wingers, and although the result will have disappointed them, things are not over for this young squad yet.

Slovakia’s ambitious gameplan paid off, although they had to ride their luck on a couple of occasions. Still, for a team that were heavy underdogs, they gave a really impressive performance. Some of the possession moves were slick, and their high pressing earned them the goal that ultimately proved decisive.

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