By Samindra Kunti in Saint Petersburg
June 11 – On a night that football seemed to matter a little less, Belgium and Romelu Lukaku delivered an emphatic 3-0 win against Russia to spoil the host’s independence day party and underline their tournament credentials.
Christian Eriksen’s collapse on Saturday didn’t prevent the 26,264 fans at the Krestovsky Stadium from building a festive atmosphere before kick-off on Russia Day. They neither wore masks nor respected social distancing, but offered a fabulous rendition of the Russian national anthem, the sole highlight for the hosts who were thoroughly outclassed by Belgium over the 90 minutes.
Romelu Lukaku proved why he is Belgium’s new talisman, leading the Belgium line and team with his intelligence and omnipresence. He dropped deep, drifted to the right, dribbled and, generally, tormented his opponents. The Inter striker struck in the 10th and 88th minutes with substitute Thomas Meunier scoring Belgium’s second just after the half-hour mark.
At the final whistle final, Lukaku, a teammate of Eriksen in Italy, kneeled and prayed to the gods. “There were a lot of tears before the game,” said Lukaku. “It was very difficult to focus for this match, also for Toby, Jan, Nacer. We all know him very well. I hope he gets well again; he has two young children, they need him and so do we as a team. I’m happy with the win but my thoughts are with Christian now.”
Poles ready to unleash against Slovakia
Slovakia’s talisman Marek Hamsik described Eriksen’s ordeal as ‘horrible’ and said he felt goosebumps hours after the Dane’s collapse. Hamsik featured for Slovakia at the 2010 World Cup and at Euro 2016 when Slovakia reached the round of sixteen, and at the age of 33 this will be his last major tournament.
Slovakia and Hamsik are up against it in Group E. Opponents Poland will be without both Krzysztof Piątek and Arkadiusz Milik for their group E clash, but can still count on a formidable squad. Recently appointed coach Paulo Sousa, in his first major tournament, said those absences won’t affect Poland’s approach. He is confident of victory in a match that is considered a must-win for his team with an away game in Spain coming up next.
“In the main idea of our game model the players don’t matter,” said Sousa at a news conference. “Milik and Piontek are two strikers in the national team close to Robert Lewandowksi and I said that when they are completely fit we are one of the best attacking national teams.”
“We have to find gaps in Slovakia, a team that is well organised and defends well with a mid-to-low block. They’re really strong in transition, very direct, they don’t spend much energy in the build-up and are also really strong from set pieces.”
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