France, Belgium battle in Round of 16 at UEFA Euro 2024 on TSN
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France and Belgium were both favoured to win their groups at the start of UEFA Euro 2024. After each finishing as runners up, the soccer heavyweights will meet in the Round of 16 at Düsseldorf Arena.
Kylian Mbappé, wearing a black mask to protect his broken nose, finally scored his first goal at a European Championship, but Poland’s Robert Lewandowski responded from the penalty spot as France drew 1-1 with Poland to finish second in Group D.
France’s captain found the net from the penalty spot in his 23rd attempt on goal all-time in the competition.
“Yeah, we’re a bit disappointed,” said France forward Bradley Barcola. “I thought we could have won the game. We controlled it up until the penalty, but we should have got a second. Poland put in a good performance, they were solid defensively and played for each other.”
France, who did not have Mbappé for their second group game against Netherlands, have only managed to score twice in their three games so far in Germany, which resulted in a win and two draws.
"I'm not going to flog a dead horse,” said France head coach Didier Deschamps. “The squad is together; they are creating chances. The fact we haven't scored limits our performance, but, ultimately, we're into the last 16. And look, we were in a really tough group.”
Austria captured Group D earning one more point than France, while Netherlands also advance to the knockout stage as one of the best third place teams.
Belgium were held to a scoreless draw by Ukraine in their final round-robin game and finished second in Group E, with all four teams posting four points.
"We gave it all during the three matches,” Belgium captain Kevin De Bruyne said after the group stage finale. “The team ran until the 95th minute. Everybody wants to win the matches and we tried to do it on the pitch, but didn’t manage to do so. We had a tough beginning in the first match. Ukraine is a difficult opponent, and they were dangerous too."
Belgium were upset by Slovakia in their tournament opener before defeating Romania in their second match. They placed second in the deadlocked group due to a goal difference tiebreaker.
"France are a great team and, for us Belgians, it's a classic game to look forward to,” said Belgium defender Wout Faes. “We'll need to give 110 per cent to win."
One player that Belgium will need to improve his play in Germany is forward Romelu Lukaku, who led qualifying with 14 goals, but did not score during the group stage.
The 31-year-old did have the ball in the net three times, only to have each marker chalked off after VAR reviews.
The teams last met in the UEFA Nations League in 2021, where France defeated Belgium 3-2.
France was also victorious when the nations played at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The winner of this match will face either Portugal or Slovenia in the quarter-finals in Hamburg on July 5.