Belgium vs Slovakia: Preview, Prediction & Betting Tips

Belgium enters their Euro 2024 opener against Slovakia as clear favorites, boasting an unbeaten streak in the qualifiers and a full-strength squad. Their attacking duo of Romelu Lukaku, who scored 14 goals in qualifying, and Kevin De Bruyne, with 14 goal contributions in the Premier League, poses a significant threat to Slovakia's defense. Jeremy Doku's pace and trickery could further expose Slovakia's vulnerabilities.

Slovakia faces a daunting task in containing Belgium's offensive firepower. Their midfield duo, Ondrej Duda and David Hancko, known for their physicality, might struggle against Belgium's technically gifted midfield.

Slovakia's chances of containing Belgium's attacking onslaught seem slim, and the match is likely to be a one-sided affair. We predict a 3-0 victory for Belgium

Belgium kick off their European Championships with a clash against Slovakia. Both sides will be looking for their first-ever European title but will be first looking for a strong start to the Group stage.

Date: 17/06/2024

Kick-off time: 17:00

Location: Deutsche Bank Park

Belgium will be looking for a dominant first win in a group that has a lot of potential banana peels in Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine. However, with that type of group, Slovakia may be ready to pounce.

This will be Belgium’s seventh time at the European Championships where they’ll hope to at least replicate their best ever finish of a Final appearance back in 1980 where they lost 2 - 1 to West Germany. Before that, they managed a third-place finish at home in 1972 and since then they've managed a pair of Group stage eliminations and a pair of Quarter-finals appearances.

In qualifying Belgium faced off against the likes of Austria, Sweden, Azerbaijan and Estonia. In eight games, Belgium picked up six wins and two draws, finishing unbeaten and one point above Austria.

This will only be Slovakia’s third time competing at the Euros after the split of Yugoslavia where they made the Round of 16 in 2016 and the Group stage in 2020. However, the three appearances made as Czechoslovakia did see two third-place finishes and a title.

In qualifying Slovakia was drawn into Group J with Portugal, Luxembourg, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein. In ten games, Slovakia picked up seven wins, one draw, and two losses, leaving them on 22 points and second.

Belgium and Slovakia have met three times in their histories, with the first meeting coming back in an international friendly in 2002. A draw is the most common outcome with two draws, one win for Belgium, and Slovakia yet to win.

This is a fixture that usually sees both sides on the scoresheet with all three meetings seeing both sides find the back of the net. However, the last meeting did come back in 2013 making this an unlikely outcome this time around.

Belgium Team News

Domenico Tedesco will be without Thibaut Courtois this tournament with the goalkeeper only just returning from an ACL injury. However, the likes of Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne, Axel Witsel, Youri Tielemans, Lois Openda, Leandro Trossard and Jeremy Doku.

Slovakia Team News

Francesco Calzona is the only coach to ever be managing a club side and an international side. After a tenth place finish with Napoli he’ll be looking to improve with Slovakia. He has Martin Dubravka in goal and the likes of Milan Skriniar and Leo Sauer.

In their last five games in all competitions, Belgium have three wins and two draws.

Lukaku opened the scoring for Belgium against Azerbaijan in the 17th minute and not long after Eddy Pascual was shown a red card in the 24th minute. Lukaku added another three goals to his haul before halftime. Trossard also got himself on the scoresheet in the last minute to give Belgium the 5 - 0 win.

The trip to Ireland for an international friendly saw both Ireland and Belgium only manage three shots on target for the entire 90 minutes. Neither side managed to convert as the game finished in a 0 - 0 draw.

Another international friendly saw another draw for Belgium, this time against England. Tielemans opened the scoring in the 11th minute but a penalty from Ivan Toney made it level for England. Tielemans regained the lead for Belgium before halftime but in the fifth minute of added time Jude Bellingham found the back of the net to force the 2 - 2 draw.

Belgium were back to winning ways against Montenegro. De Bruyne opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime and late in the second half Milos Brnovic was sent off for Montenegro. Trossard then doubled the lead with his late penalty to wrap up the 2 - 0 win.

The last time out for Belgium was against Luxembourg. Another two goals from Lukaku and another goal from Trossard gave Belgium the 3 - 0 win, with Luxembourg having just one shot that was not on target.

In their last five games in all competitions, Slovakia have three wins and two losses.

The last game of the Euro qualifiers saw Slovakia take on Bosnia and Herzegovina. An own goal from Patrik Hrosovsky gave Bosnia and Herzegovina the lead early in the second half but Robert Bozenik equalised for Slovakia just three minutes later. Following the red card to Renato Gojkovic, Lubomir Satka scored to give Slovakia the 2 - 1 win.

In an international friendly, Slovakia hosted Austria. Christoph Baumgartner opened the scoring in the first minute and in the last ten minutes Andreas Weimann secured the 2 - 0 win.

Another friendly saw Slovakia take on Norway. Alexander Sorloth gave Norway the lead in the 18th minute. However, with just two minutes to go, Ondrej Duda found the back of the net to rescue a 1 - 1 draw for Slovakia.

Tomas Rigo, Tomas Suslov, Lukas Haraslin and David Strelec all scored for Slovakia in the dominant 4 - 0 win over San Marino.

The most recent outing for Slovakia was another 4 - 0 win, this time against Wales. Goals from Juraj Kucka, Bozenik and Laszlo Benes and an own goal from Ethan Ampadu gave Slovakia the win.

Belgium vs Slovakia will be shown on ITV 1 and ITV X in the U.K. but the game can also be followed online on BBC Sport or Sky Sports.

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