The final whistle, time to cheer or disturb: At the odd midfield, the Finnish players were trapped after 90 minutes. They lost their game and may have sealed the end of the European Championship, but their debut in the big football arena is not over yet. Over the next 48 hours, they will find out how things are going in their hotel rooms.
Results: Belgium beat Finland 2-0 (0-0) on Group B of the European Championship. News here.
Initial condition: Having already qualified for the knockout round, a draw would be enough for the Belgians to beat the team. Thanks to the Austrians ’win over Ukraine in the early hours of the morning, the Finns will also have a draw in the 16th round, with at least one of the top four teams in the top three.
First Half: Finns started the »draw« effort defensively, very defensively. 5-3-2 If they had moved further backwards they would have stood on their own goalkeeper Luke Hrideca. Two half chances (21st and 37th minutes) for Romalu Lukaku, Jeremy Toku was the best one (42nd), but Hrக்tech spoke brilliantly. Highlight from the Finnish point of view: The news of Dance 1-0 against Russia in a parallel match, which advanced to second place in the Finnish interim table.
Home Games in St. Petersburg: It is 400 kilometers from the Finnish border to St. Petersburg. So the sympathies in the stadium were clearly distributed and every ball victory outside was celebrated frantically. Awesome. On the other hand, the knees of both teams were whistled before the kick-off, as a symbol of racism. not good.
Second Half: Outsiders wanted to keep the Finnish game away from their own target, which was sometimes a good win. But the Belgian class inevitably created opportunities. While Lukaku was thin as he ran towards a goal, the Finns were still lucky (65th), but then came the setbacks: the Russians reduced the tie to 1: 2 – now with only one goal and the Finns fourth. It came: a header from Thomas Vermaelen hit the post, from there to Hrக்காdech, and from there to the goal (74th). Lucas finished 2-0 (81st).
Hä? Statistics from region: Over the past 50 years, Belgium, the current leader in the FIFA world rankings, has competed in nine World Championships and reached the semi-finals twice. In the five European Championship finals, he was knocked out once a second and once in third place. Why am I telling you this? The Finns, without a match until this year, have won four of their seven matches against the Belgians, ending three games in a draw. The last defeat was before 1968.
Doctor Whistle: When Dr.. Felix Brich is scheduled for international games, one must always believe that ARD commentator Tom Bartels is not. In Breich’s first EM application, the ARD commentator was very excited about the “excellent level play” and the performance of the German referee, which was very different. Operation number was low without two bartenders, but without any problems. The 45-year-old already has a race ahead of the unfortunate World Cup in 2018, with nothing to say against another in the 16th round of his last European Championship.
Finnish dream: National coach Mark Canerva had prepared his players for “the biggest game in our football history”. Round 16 will be something even bigger. For this to happen, Finland must have two-thirds of the remaining three groups. This is a draw between Scotland and Croatia in Group D. If Spain then does not win against Slovakia and Poland against Sweden, third place in Group E will be behind the Pins.
Ready for the title ?: It is forbidden to draw decisions for the semi-finals or final from the almost meaningless team match against Finland. In fact. However, one can say with confidence that Belgium coach Robert Martinez has a strong team at his disposal. Anyone who can get Eden Hazard, Axel Witzel or Kevin de Bruyne in the starting line-up can imagine being the happiest person.
So it continues: The group will meet with third party Belgium on Sunday (9pm, live ticker: SPIEGEL.de). Whether the Finns will be allowed to play in the round of 16 will be decided shortly before 11pm on Wednesday.
