Belgium dismissing talk of draw and just focusing on victory, Tedesco says
Belgium will be going all out to win against Ukraine in their final group game despite a draw being enough for them to reach the last 16 of Euro 2024, coach Domenico Tedesco said on Tuesday.
Group E has the extraordinary situation of all four teams being locked on three points and a number of finishing-position permutations possible should Belgium draw with Ukraine and Romania draw with Slovakia.
However, Tedesco said there was no way his side would sit back and settle for a point.
“We are going out to win the game. We can’t start to calculate or speculate, we want to win this game. In the last seven minutes of the game maybe we know what we want to do to keep a result but from the beginning there is no issue, we go to win,” the 38-year-old told a press conference.
Tedesco said they would make sure they were aware of the result in the other match at some point during the evening.
“Not smart from our side not to know it but not from the beginning… We have to focus on our game and then the result is coming automatically,” he added.
It’s the first meeting between Ukraine and Belgium. Both sides recovered from opening losses in the group to win their second matches and Tedesco was wary of the threat Serhiy Rebrov’s side had posed for big teams recently.
“Of course we need to be confident, normally there is no reason not to be confident but in football you can never be sure,” Tedesco said.
“We are sure we need a big game tomorrow because Ukraine is a big team. We saw several games of them, not just during the qualifiers against England, but now also games here at the Euros and before the friendly (0-0 draw) against Germany – I think they were the better team.”
Belgium will be hoping that their all-time top goalscorer Romelu Lukaku will get off the mark finally in Germany having seen three strikes disallowed after Video Assistant Referee (VAR) checks.
However, team mate Amadou Onana backed the 31-year-old to get over his disappointment and continue to be a leading figure in the team.
“Without Romelu’s goals in qualification we wouldn’t be here so we know what he brings to the table,” Onana said.
“He knows what it means to play with pressure, so I’m not concerned. He’s going to be key all throughout this tournament.”
Tedesco also hopes not to have his spontaneous joy on the touch-line cut short again.
“The VAR is postponing celebrations or stopping them at all so that’s why in the last game after three goals were cancelled I waited a bit for the celebrations (when Belgium scored),” he said.
“But sometimes emotions should be there so if I make a jump or a sprint I hope VAR is not stopping it again!”
