Game 9: Belgium vs Slovakia live from the Frankfurt Arena. ITV1 5pm

[Coulthard's Jaw]

Possible line-ups

Belgium: Casteels; Faes, Witsel, De Cuyper; Castagne, Mangala, Onana, Doku; Trossard, Lukaku, De Bruyne

Slovakia: Dúbravka; Pekarík, Vavro, Škriniar, Hancko; Kucka, Lobotka, Duda; Schranz, Boženík, Haraslín

This is the first time ever these two fine nations have played each other in a competitive fixture.

Belgium are favourites to start their Euro 2024 campaign with a win, beating Slovakia in 61.5% of the Opta supercomputer’s pre-match simulations.

Mark Pougatch presents, with analysis from Eni Aluko, Joleon Lescott and Danny Rohl, and commentary by

 and 

[Tikka Mezzala]

Getting behind Czechia and Slovakia, although I do have Belgium in the sweepstakes. 

Edited June 17 by Tikka Mezzala

[Darren Moores Mum]

Danny 

Shame I'll miss the pre match discussion.

[EnterUsernameHere]

Carrasco left back? That's a bit nuts.

[ThanatosAFC]

Should had start De Cuyper.

[CFuller]

Huh. Didn't realise Witsel was back in the Belgium team. At least they're not playing 74-year-old Jan Vertonghen.

Going for a simple Belgium win. 2-0.

[john1]

4-0 to Belgium.

[Haguey]

I went Belgium in the poll but their golden era is definitely over, I think a scrappy 1-0 win here but overall they won't get far beyond the groups.

[Weezer]

Nice to see Danny Rohl there to do some sneaky scouting for our promotion campaign next season. Assume he’s lining up De Bruyne to fill in for Bannan if he gets injured.

[GunmaN1905]

Belgian lineup outside front four is dire.

Interesting that Pekarik is still the first choice at 37 and no minutes for Hertha this season.

My most hated player of the tournament is also on the pitch and it's not Lukaku.

[Weezer]

Urgh, I hate English football media. Why are we talking about England? 

[craigcwwe]

22 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Belgian lineup outside front four is dire.

Interesting that Pekarik is still the first choice at 37 and no minutes for Hertha this season.

My most hated player of the tournament is also on the pitch and it's not Lukaku.

Skriniar?

Edited June 17 by craigcwwe

[GunmaN1905]

4 minutes ago, craigcwwe said:

Skriniar. 

No.

 

[Freakiie]

15 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

No.

 

Who?

[SouthCoastRed]

28 minutes ago, Weezer said:

Nice to see Danny Rohl there to do some sneaky scouting for our promotion campaign next season. Assume he’s lining up De Bruyne to fill in for Bannan if he gets injured.

More likely he’s tapped up Pougatch tbh

[Rob1981]

Feels like this is probably the first tournament game Slovakia have ever played without Marek Hamšík.

[GunmaN1905]

3 minutes ago, Freakiie said:

Who?

You see the number and you have the lineups.

Basically Slovakian version of Felipe Melo that can't actually play football.

And yeah, he thinks so highly of himself he's got a nickname on the back of his shirt instead of his name and surname that have 10 letters total.

Strange seeing Calzona back with NT after his stint with Napoli.

Edited June 17 by GunmaN1905

[CFuller]

Kucka must surely be Slovakia's last survivor from 2010.

EDIT: Oh no, there's Pekarik.

Edited June 17 by CFuller

[ThanatosAFC]

Doku is freaking rapid with the ball on his feet. 

[GunmaN1905]

I actually have him as captain today and he's continuing his Qatar form.

[TalkSport]

Exciting Doku! 

Lukaku should've scored.

[GunmaN1905]

Oh boy, another Lukaku show incoming.

[TalkSport]

That's so bad from Trossard.

[ThanatosAFC]

Doku with a massive error there. 

[GunmaN1905]

Looked offside?

Belgium's defense is absolutely dire.

Clear goal.

Edited June 17 by GunmaN1905

[Astafjevs]

Haha giving Doku all the build and he does that  

[themadsheep2001]

****ing lol

[Shambolic]

Surely that's offside?

Nope. Well onside.

Edited June 17 by Shambolic

[CFuller]

Oh, Belgium...

[Weezer]

Belgium  

Never going to win anything are they.

[GunmaN1905]

This has the makings of an all-time great tournament, best one since 2006.

Just let Germany host every time.

[TalkSport]

LOL Doku  

[craigcwwe]

So bad from Doku after a bright start from him. 

[EnterUsernameHere]

It's the history of the Belgium.

[TalkSport]

That's a foul by Doku? I'm lost.

[ThanatosAFC]

Handball for sure there. 

[CFuller]

Just now, GunmaN1905 said:

This has the makings of an all-time great tournament, best one since 2006.

Just let Germany host every time.

We're going to miss this when we get all the Brexiteer bum flares in 2028 and the logistical chaos of Italy/Turkey 2032.

[GunmaN1905]

3 minutes ago, CFuller said:

We're going to miss this when we get all the Brexiteer bum flares in 2028 and the logistical chaos of Italy/Turkey 2032.

Wait...I hope it's Italy or Turkey, not both.

Ironically enough, Turkey has more modern stadiums.

But Germany is perfect from logistic/infrastructure aspect. Even climate.

Edited June 17 by GunmaN1905

[ReggaeBwoy]

Belgium's kit is wonderful 

Their kits in the past have been really dull. This is a thing of beauty. 

[Astafjevs]

Belgium have a lovely kit. Might be the best I've seen so far. 

[Astafjevs]

ffs I forgot to log out of my reggaebwoy account. 

[EnterUsernameHere]

Trossard has to do better there.

[craigcwwe]

Greedy from Trossard, should pass that to Lukaku. 

[Rob1981]

6 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

Wait...I hope it's Italy or Turkey, not both.

Sadly not. Already been awarded to both of them for 2032. They pretty much got together and agreed to share it because neither wanted to risk losing to the other.

[ReggaeBwoy]

 

3 minutes ago, Astafjevs said:

ffs I forgot to log out of my reggaebwoy account. 

 

[Bliss Seeker]

Lukaku is forever standing there asking a teammate why they didn't square the ball to him instead of shooting 

[GunmaN1905]

Just now, Rob1981 said:

Sadly not. Already been awarded to both of them for 2032. They pretty much got together and agreed to share it because neither wanted to risk losing to the other.

Then it's worthless for both countries. EURO could've been used to build new stadiums outside of the few biggest cities.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Lukaku's moaning at his team mates when they don't pass (with his hands out complaining) will never get old 

[Weezer]

27 minutes ago, SouthCoastRed said:

More likely he’s tapped up Pougatch tbh

Nothing would surprise me with this club

[ThanatosAFC]

Trossard blank average whenever he plays for Belgium.