Domenico Tedesco: "The first half against Ukraine was good, but then fear crept into our hearts"

Head coach of the Belgian national team Domenico Tedesco, summarizing the performance of his team at Euro 2024, touched on the match against Ukraine (0:0) in the 3rd round of the group stage of the tournament. Recall, yesterday the Belgians lost to France (0:1) in the 1/8 finals of the European Championship, which ended their performance at the tournament.

"I do not think we can be reproached that we played not brave enough. Including the opening match against Slovakia (0:1 - ed.). We created a lot of chances then, and the match 1/8 finals England - Slovakia (2:1 - ed.) showed how difficult it is with this opponent.

In the game against Romania (2:0 - ed.) we dominated and got an absolutely legitimate victory. The first half of the match against Ukraine was good, but then fear crept into our hearts - it sometimes happens when one conceded goal sends you home from the group.

As for the game with France. Well... I find it incredible that Romelu Lukaku hasn't scored a single goal at this Euro. And Jérémy Doku hasn't even made an assist. The result shows how insignificant all this is, because these players could have shown much more. And the French defense was excellent, which is not surprising, we know how they can do it. But the few opportunities to turn the game in our favor were there, and they were great opportunities. We had chances to win, but that's soccer.

The absence of Thibaut Courtois? It did not matter. Koen Castells had a brilliant tournament. In the match against Ukraine, for example, he pulled out not only the ball from the goal line, but also our entire team in the 1/8 finals with a brilliant save. If not for him, we would not have had this match with France," Tedesco said after the match against France.

Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!