A first half performance that was nothing short of appalling and a second half performance that gave us some hope saw Belgium’s national men’s football team the Red Devils lose their Nations’ League group stage match against Italy in Brussels on Thursday evening by 0-1. The Red Devils had nothing that even resembled a chance during the first 45 minutes. There were chances in the second half, but no one, not even Lukaku, was able to find the back of the net.
Italy scored early on, which is not surprising given that they had 80% of possession during the first 15 minutes. The visitors were dominant and a blunder by Maxime De Cuyper saw Italy take the lead on 11 minutes through Tonali.
The Belgians were unable to launch a counterattack that might have levelled the score. Coach Tedesco had opted for a 5-man defence and Belgium’s forwards Openda and Lukaku hardly saw the ball up front during the entire first half.
Belgium started to come into the game a little more after around half an hour. However, this was more thanks to the Italians not going flat out for a second goal than to a sudden improvement in the Belgians’ game.
Red Devils better during second half
The second half was better from the outset. A long distance shot from Debast saw the Italian keeper Donarumma make what was his first save of the game. Trossard was able to test the Italian keeper a few minutes later.
However, it was game over for Belgium when Italy created three chances one after another. The Red Devils survived the Italian onslaught though and had a good chance to level the score on the hour through Openda. However, the Belgian’s shot went wide.
Almost at the end of the match Lukaku had a good chance to level the score, but his shot was deflected wide by the leg of an Italian defender and Belgium got no more than a corner.
Faes’ header also went wide of goal. The result means that Belgium can no longer qualify for the Final Four. Sunday’s match in Israel will be a fight to avoid relegation for the Red Devils.