Finland and Belgium are clashing at Gazprom Arena in round 3 of Group B in the Euro Cup 2021. Finland doesn’t concede a lot of goals, but it seems they are scoring even less. Finland is now in 3rd place, but I don’t think they will be advancing to the next stage. Belgium has won both of their games, but they didn’t look their best against Denmark.
Finland has beaten Denmark in the first round, but they lost to Russia in the second game, and it should have been more than 0-1. Finland has had 41% of ball possession in that game, 1 shot on goal, 1 corner kick, and 80% of the correct passes. Finland has lost this game, and now they need at least 1 point in this match to advance to the next stage. Pohjanpalo is still the only goalscorer for Finland in this tournament. It’s not that Finland doesn’t have good strikers, because they have two of them, their problem lies in their midfield which can’t get the ball to those strikers. Finland could easily still end in the last place of this group depending on other scores, but overall, it wasn’t a bad tournament for Finland.
Belgium is now on a 3-game winning streak, and they have also extended their streak without a loss to 11 games. Belgium is at the top of this group with 6 points, 5 scored goals and only 1 conceded goal, and they will win this group. Belgium is still looking for their best form, but they are slowly getting there, just in time for the next stage. In their last match against Denmark, Belgium has had 53% of ball possession, 5 shots on goal, 4 corner kicks, 2 big chances created, and 85% of the correct passes. Belgium looked terrible in the first half, and they were losing 1-0. In the second half, Belgium has made a couple of substitutions in the second half, and they were able to completely turn the game around. With two score goals in the second half, Belgium has won this match 1-2. Lukaku is the leading goalscorer for Belgium with 2 goals, while De Bruyne, Hazard, and Meunier added 1 goal each. De Bruyne, Hazard, and Meunier have each added 1 assist. I still think Belgium is the best team in the world, and when they get Hazard and De Bruyne going, they will be hard to stop. There are a few other teams in this tournament who have shown some good stuff, but Belgium is still my favorite to win.
Belgium doesn’t have to win this game, but they need to get Hazard’s and De Bruyne’s conditioning up to 90 minutes, and I think they will start this match. Finland isn’t doing well in the attacking end, and I think Belgium will get a nice win here to confirm their top spot in this group.