The Round of 16 continues today at EURO 2024. Here are four talking points ahead of the games involving France and Belgium, and Portugal up against Slovenia .
By Ian King
Is Didier Deschamps finally reaching the end of the road?
Euro 2024 has so far been most notable for the ‘established nations’ underperforming, but few have underachieved to the extent that France have. They could only manage two goals in their first three matches, an own goal against Austria and a penalty against Switzerland, while Kylian Mbappé will be playing the remainder of his tournament dressed like Batman after breaking his nose against Austria.
The pressure is, therefore, rising under head coach Didier Deschamps. He’s been in the role for twelve years. In that time, France won the World Cup in 2018 and the Nations League in 2021. But this summer’s underachievement is not what France was expecting, and an early elimination could result in Deschamps being removed from his position too.
Belgium supporters are right to ask what sort of red devilry this is
England aren’t the only team to have been on the end of their own supporters in Germany. At the end of their 1-1 draw with Ukraine, Belgium’s supporters turned on their team to such an extent that Kevin De Bruyne told the players to go to the dressing room.
Expectations are high and Belgium are not delivering. It’s impossible to say how many chances Romelu Lukaku needs to score because he hasn’t scored any yet, while Jérémy Doku has been running very quickly but delivering very little. With the pressure starting to build, it may suit Belgium to start a match as underdogs for once, but what is head coach Domenico Tedesco’s actual plan, here?
Do Portugal have a Cristiano Ronaldo Problem?
Georgia’s 2-0 win against Portugal may have come against a team with eight changes made to it, but it was one of the changes that wasn’t made which hogged many of the headlines.
The diminishment of Cristiano Ronaldo as a player is clear. It’s natural for a 39-year old not to be the player they were a decade ago, and this isn’t to say that he doesn’t bring any value to the team. But it’s also worth asking whether he should start their next match.
Portugal scored five goals in their group, but Ronaldo didn’t contribute any of them. Against Georgia he had just three shots, only one of which was on target, before being replaced by Gonçalo Ramos.
This predates the start of this tournament. He’s only scored twice for his country since last November and there appeared few signs that he would be adding to that tally other than possibly from the penalty spot. It’s not as simple as just dropping him. He’s the team captain and a global icon. The bouts of petulance are an even worse look than usual when he’s not delivering himself, but would Roberto Martínez have the nerve to leave him out?
Can Slovenia get past Portugal by keeping things simple?
Along with fellow group inmates Denmark, Slovenia were one of just two teams in the last 16 to get there without winning a game. This consistency has also been evident in their team selection. Head coach Matjaž Kek has kept things simple with three unchanged teams playing an unsophisticated 4-4-2 formation.
It’s worked. Benjamin Šeško hasn’t been at full fitness, but despite this they’re through to the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time and, against a team with such attacking options as Portugal, it’s likely that defence will be their first priority again. It’s a very big ask indeed, but smaller nations have already made bigger nations extremely uncomfortable this summer.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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