Euro 2024 Preview: Group E & Group F
Key storylines and players to watch from Groups E and F.
By Patric Ridge
More Than A Game will preview each group ahead of Euro 2024, and Groups E and F round things off.
GROUP E
Group E has a standout team in Belgium, but Ukraine, Slovakia and Romania could face a pretty even battle for second place.
Belgium are clearly the favourites, and they should win the group. Domenico Tedesco’s team cruised through qualifying, with Romelu Lukaku in sensational form, scoring 14 goals. Indeed, it’s Belgium’s attack that really stands out, with Lukaku having support from Lois Openda, Lisandro Trossard, Jeremy Doku and Johan Bakayoko, while the creativity of course comes from Kevin De Bruyne. The Red Devils’ flattered to deceive at the 2022 World Cup, and even though they won’t have Thibaut Courtois, they should have enough to get through in first place. That being said, their defence — on paper — does not look particularly strong, and could be exposed by better teams.
Slovakia took 22 points from their 10 matches in qualifying, and will be appearing at their sixth Euros finals. Their qualification campaign was built on a strong defence, with Slovakia conceding just eight times. Expect that to be the go-to tactic for Francesco Calzona as he looks to navigate a way through into the knockouts.
Romania enjoyed a fine qualifying campaign, finishing top of a group that also included Switzerland to book their place in Germany. That being said, there appears to be a real lack of goalscoring prowess within their ranks. Indeed, they failed to score in either of their warm-up matches, against Bulgaria and minnows Lichtenstein. Like Slovakia, thy will try to build on a solid defence, but will it be enough?
Ukraine are the only team in this group that qualified through the play-offs, though given they were in a group with England and holders Italy, who they pushed all the way, that is no shame — and that’s before factoring in all that is going on back home. Indeed, Ukraine — both on paper and in the FIFA rankings — have the second-best squad in this group, and they should be confident of, at the very least, progressing behind Belgium. They reached the quarters at Euro 2020, so they have some tournament pedigree.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to More Than A Game to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.