The second of three games on Monday, and the final game from Group E, and it sees the favourites to win the group, Belgium in action. They take on Slovakia, and the Belgians will be looking to get off to the best possible start, with three points on the board to kick start their tournament.
Belgium Form GuideThe golden generation for Belgium has been and gone, they didn't win any silverware. Now, with some veterans to help, they've a new core coming through, I think going forward they are very exciting, but have questions over them defensively. That could get them so far, but whether they can win when up against a good side, remains to be seen.
I mention questions over defence, but they have kept five clean sheets from their last six games. But those have been against Luxembourg, Montenegro, Ireland, Azerbaijan and Serbia, so hardly the strongest of competition. They're here on the back of two wins, beating Luxembourg 3-0 and Montenegro 2-0. It may not be immediately, but the competition will get strong in the long run, and then we'll see what Belgium are made of.
Slovakia Form GuideOutsiders of the group Slovakia will see qualifying from this into the knockout round as a real success, even if that is crawling over the line in third. They should come into this full of confidence, with a couple of big wins to get themselves set up, although of course, playing Belgium in the opener is a real step up in quality.
They won 4-0 over both Wales and San Marino in the last week, two good momentum boosting wins. But before that, a draw with Norway and a loss to Austria, so there are questions to answer, and this is definitely a team that has its limitations.
Match PredictionI have questions over how far Belgium can go, they've not defended against many good sides and that's a worry for me. But not in the group stage, and not in this game, it's one I think they can win, they should have far too much quality going forward to beat Slovakia, a side who have already shown their limits.
