Two new Euro 2024 Round of 16 matches will be played on Monday. At 19:00, France meets Belgium, and at 22:00, Portugal faces Slovenia.
France and Belgium in theory seems the strongest, but not with what the two teams have demonstrated so far in the championship. The teams are certainly among the disappointments, failing to win their groups and scoring just two goals each. Still, the clash between them attracts attention, and the "roosters" are favorites in it.
So far, France has not been able to show what it is capable of. The team was better on the field in all three matches. Austria (1:0) was defeated by an own goal, and against the Netherlands (0:0) two extremely advantageous situations for a goal were wasted. And when a victory over Poland (1:1) was expected, and with a difference, Mbappe and his teammates in attack competed to see who would miss the better position for a goal.
Belgium came second from their Group E, in which all four teams finished with four points. The Red Devils lost to Slovakia (0:1), beat Romania (2:0) and drew with Ukraine. We all know about Lukaku's three disallowed goals, but the fact is that the Belgians are simply not performing what we all expect. The last match with Ukraine (0:0) was extremely weak and Belgium played with fire, and could be thrown out of the championship.
Portugal started with two wins - against the Czech Republic and Turkey. Then, however, he clearly underestimated, and perhaps did not put in maximum effort against Georgia and surprisingly lost 0:2. In March, they also lost 0:2 away to Slovenia in control, so they already know that they have to be careful against this opponent and will try to get revenge for that loss. Rafael Leao is suspended for this match and Roberto Martinez also made some rotations against Georgia.
Unlike Portugal, Slovenia are unbeaten so far in the tournament. With three draws, he managed to advance as third in his group, in which he did not lose to Denmark, Serbia and even to England, making a goalless draw with the English. Thus, for their last 15 matches, Slovenia has only one loss, which came with 1:2 as a guest from Denmark during the qualifiers.
The winner of this pair will meet France or Belgium in the quarter-finals.
Program for Sunday of Euro 2024:
19:00, France - Belgium
22:00, Portugal - Slovenia. | BGNES
