Estonia-Belgium is a match on matchday four of Euro 2024 qualifying group F and is played on Tuesday at 20:45: predictions.
An aggressive but ineffective Belgium failed to get the better of Ralf Rangnick’s tough Austria on Saturday, who returned from Brussels with a valuable point. It took Lukaku and his team-mates no fewer than 17 shots on goal to break down the resistance of a selection that could give them a run for their money in the fight for first place, which was no longer as clear-cut as it had seemed at the start.
The match against the Austrians ended 1-1, the first draw of 2023 for the Red Devils, who in their only two matches played had overwhelmed Sweden 3-0 and narrowly beaten Germany in a prolific friendly which ended in a thrilling 3-2 draw. The draw with Austria, however, does nothing to dent their qualification hopes: Belgium, despite being at the dawn of a new cycle, remain by far the favourites to win the group. While waiting to see what Austria will do against Sweden – the Scandinavians are third on three points – the men led by Domenico Tedesco are dreaming of regaining the top spot, which is currently three points away (Austria have seven points but have played an extra game). Victory should come without any problems against Estonia, the least competitive selection in the group, but the eve of the Tallinn challenge has been disturbed by the rumoured rift between goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and the coach. The reason? Tedesco’s decision to award the captain’s armband to Lukaku instead of the Real Madrid defender. Who, out of spite, decided to abandon the training camp: the second Sels will play in goal.
As for Estonia, the Baltics’ only realistic goal seems to be to avoid last place. And the draw snatched on Saturday with the direct competitor, Azerbaijan (1-1) is a good result in that sense. Last March, the selection coached by Swiss Thomas Haberli had lost ‘only’ 2-1 to Austria.
The prediction
Despite De Bruyne’s absence, Belgium have all the credentials for a comfortable victory in Estonia. In the last two previous fixtures between these two sides, which have been fairly recent – they faced each other in the Qatari World Cup qualifiers – they have never scored fewer than three goals, and that is likely to be the case this time around.
Estonia-Belgium line-up probables
- ESTONIA (3-5-2): Hein; Peetson, Mets, Kuusk; Lukka, Miller, Kait, Vassiljev, Sinyavskiy; Anier, Sappinen.
- BELGIUM (3-5-2): Sels; Faes, Bornauw, Theate; Castagne, Vranckx, Tielemans, Vanaken, Carrasco; Openda, Lukaku.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-3