COLOGNE, Germany – Domenico Tedesco wants his Belgian team to be much more clinical in front of goal after securing a key 2-0 victory over Romania in Cologne on Saturday.
After losing their first match 1-0 to Slovakia, Belgium secured the key victory thanks to a 76th-second goal from Youri Tielemans and another in the 80th minute from Man of the Match Kevin De Bruyne.
But both goals capped off several periods of Belgian dominance in which they had plenty of chances but failed to convert them. In total, Belgium took 20 shots on goal, nine of them on goal, but they had to work hard to achieve the victory.
They also had another goal disallowed, Romelu Lukaku being the unfortunate one. It was his third disallowed goal in this European Championship after two against Slovakia. This time he was marginally offside on a goal in the second half.
The result leaves Group E tied, with all four teams entering the final round of matches with three points each. But although Tedesco was satisfied with the victory, he wants his team to be much more accurate in front of goal.
“We're relieved that we won the game and we missed one or two chances and I'm not happy about that,” Tedesco said in his news conference. “It would be great if we could decide the game earlier.”
And he added: “It's a shame, if we see the quantity and quality of the chances in both games, after having scored two goals in those two games, it's less [than they should have]. It is important to get the three points, but scoring four or five goals tonight was possible.
“It's fantastic that we created these chances, but we have to finish the game early. If we don't score the goals, we will have to suffer until the end.”
Tedesco saw no common theme in his profligacy in front of goal in both games, including his three disallowed goals.
“I have to look at the situations again. You can see that it is unfortunate: millimeters of offside, handball. [against Slovakia]. Romelu has scored three goals, but three goals were disallowed and that's also a bit of timing, so of course it's also lucky and unlucky.
“Sometimes the goalkeeper was great tonight in some circumstances, or the defender saved the goal in the last tackle, so that's it.”
For De Bruyne, he has no concerns about Lukaku's record at Euro 2024.
“He scored three times. Romelu had a great performance today, he was very generous and gave Youri the ball for the assist,” De Bruyne said. “For me he scored all three goals, whether they allowed him or not.
“He's here, he's scoring. When you talk about two centimeters offside, there's no frustration, he's had a great tournament so far.”
De Bruyne put in a brilliant performance as Belgium captain and has spoken of his leadership role in the team. After the match he said that one day he will end his international career and leave it to the next generation, but he has not yet decided if this will be his last campaign.
“I haven't thought about this,” he said. “I've been playing in the team for the last 10 years and I have knowledge to share with them, but I haven't thought about whether this is the end of the road for me. It will be up to others to take over.” but I don't like to think about when I'll retire or my future.
As Belgium turns its attention to its final group match against Ukraine on Wednesday, Tedesco will not have Dodi Lukebakio available due to suspension, but hopes to have Thomas Meunier available when he joins the team in a couple of days after recovering from a muscle injury .
Arthur Theate asked to be substituted in the victory over Romania due to a knock, but should be fit. They are also awaiting the test results of Axel Witsel, who was not in the squad for Saturday's game, but are optimistic that he has not suffered a serious setback.
