Slovak shock a victory for smaller nations – Calzona

Slovakia’s surprise 1-0 win over Belgium at Euro 2024 on Monday was proof of the progress of the smaller nations but there remained a gap even though his side won, said coach Francesco Calzona.

Slovakia pulled off the first upset of the tournament in Germany as they scored early and then kept the much-fancied Belgians at bay to win their opening Group E encounter.

“The lesser teams, if you will… the smaller nations, have made progress. And we can cause problems for the more prestigious nations. But there is still a big gap,” said Calzona after the 48th-ranked Slovaks upended World No 3 Belgium.

“We have to work very hard. It’s by no means easy because a country like Belgium produces so many footballers.

“But it’s also true that the smaller nations are also developing and I realised that in the qualification group the smaller nations are very well organised, and it’s true, they have made progress.”

Limited resources made Monday’s triumph even sweeter for Italian-born Calzona, formerly at Napoli before taking on the Slovakia post two years ago.

“We’re a small nation. And it’s not easy to find personnel and we have some issues in certain areas of the park,” he said.

But Calzona hailed the win which puts Slovakia on course for the last 16 with matches to come against Ukraine and Romania.

“Our players did their best, they put in the effort and we beat a great opponent. I told the boys that we have to have the mentality that we can be equal to the best.

“It’s a huge win, but we have to keep working. We are looking at the next games – we have to score in those games as well to meet our target and advance,” Calzona added.

Goal hero Ivan Schranz said it was a deserved victory, even if Belgium had two strikes disallowed, another cleared off the line and dominated play.

“We gave an excellent and disciplined performance. It’s one of the goals of a lifetime (to win at the Euros) making the victory all the more beautiful,” he said.

Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco backed his side to bounce back after they squandered multiple opportunities.

“The only thing that we didn’t do well was taking chances,” he said. “We had plenty. It’s part of the game. Of course the players were disappointed.

“We had many chances, we pressed high. Normally you don’t lose this game. It hurts.”

Tedesco added that he knew his 15-game unbeaten run since he took over the team last February would come to an end at some point. “Unfortunately this was today,” he said.

Belgium had two Romelu Lukaku goals ruled out by VAR – one for offside and, more controversially, for a handball by Lois Openda in the build-up but Tedesco did not criticise the officials.

“I want to be a fair loser – we trust the referees,” he said.

The coach also backed the performance of his players, including Lukaku, who missed several clear-cut chances.

“He is strong, mentally strong,” Tedesco said, adding that talismanic midfielder Kevin De Bruyne “played really well tonight – he is very important for the team.”

Belgium face Romania in their second Group E game in Cologne on Saturday and must put behind them the defeat by Slovakia.

“It hurts a lot tonight,” Tedesco added.

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