Rounding off Saturday’s Euro 2024 action, two teams who made contrasting starts to the tournament will clash in the Rhineland city of Cologne. Can the Red Devils bounce back? Or will the Romanians cause another upset? Read on for our Belgium vs Romania predictions.
Belgium vs Romania prediction
For the Belgium vs Romania match prediction, we believe the final score will be a 3-1 win for Belgium based on our analysis.
Sure, they faltered on the first match day, but the Belgians still created plenty of chances, despite not being overly secure at the back, and if they get the end-product right here, they’ve got the quality to overpower what is a decent but far from top-level Romanian team.
Our predictions for this clash between Belgium and Romania are as follows:
Lois Openda Over 0.5 Assists @ +350 with bet365
Dennis Man Over 0.5 Shots On Target @ +162 with bet365
Belgium vs Romania betting odds
Belgium vs Romania head-to-head statistics
This will be the fifth renewal of this fixture. The teams have not faced each other since 2012, when the Romanians beat Belgium by two goals to one.
Interestingly, there has never been a draw between the two nations, with Romania winning three and the Belgians picking up two victories.
Belgium vs Romania preview
This game is set to be played on June 22, 2024, at RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne. Kickoff will be at 4:00 PM ET.
Despite being sent off as heavy odds-on favorites for their opening game against Slovakia, the Belgians struggled.
The always wasteful Romelu Lukaku spurned a massive early chance, setting the tone for the Red Devils, who missed several sizable opportunities throughout the game, which meant that they were never able to recover following a Slovak sucker-punch when the game was still in its infancy.
Ultimately, the Belgians underperformed in that first game, but the fact that they still created plenty of openings is positive, while we know that they have the offensive tools to do some real damage.
For Romania, everything went smoothly in their first game against Ukraine, who struggled to get at the men in yellow, before being devastated on the break.
Edward Iordănescu’s men showed that they’re not in Germany to make up the numbers with that match-day one win, and although they only beat a hugely under-performing Ukrainian side, they merit respect here.
This will be much tougher for the boys in yellow, but they’ve got every right to feel confident, as they’ve shown that they have what it takes to hurt teams, especially on the break, which could easily prove to be a fruitful tactic against what can only be described as a substandard Belgian defense, especially given the back four that they had not that long ago.
Belgium vs Romania betting picks
As far as my value-searching eyes can see, there are two viable angles of attack ahead of this fixture, which are as follows:
Lois Openda Over 0.5 Assists
Near the eve of the tournament, I put Leipzig forward Openda up as a potential value play in the top-scorer market, which may already be a forlorn hope.
With Dominic Tedesco seemingly as insistent as his predecessor to rely on the incredibly unreliable Romelu Lukaku up top, Openda could be constrained to either playing as a sub or playing out wide, but as he has shown when coming off the bench, even on the left or right, he can be a serious source of creativity.
With pace to burn and sheer directness, Openda will beat his man out wide and he will put deliveries in, making him a good option from the start here. If he does, he looks a little overpriced to register an assist.
After all, the Bundesliga player was an inadvertent handball away from assisting a goal in that first game, so don’t be surprised if he makes things happen from a wide area.
Dennis Man Over 0.5 Shots on Target
Another player I’m interested in here is Dennis Man, who played very well for Romania during that game against Ukraine, providing two assists.
The wide forward is much more than just a creator. He’s very capable of cutting in and shooting, while he’s happy to run in behind from a wide area on the break, which is a tactic that could easily serve the Romanians well here.
Man scored 11 goals for Parma in Serie B, averaging 0.42 goals per 90 minutes, and I know what you’re thinking: “That’s Serie B, not the Euros,” and you’d be right.
However, let’s face it, this Belgium back-line is relatively underwhelming. In the first game, they have a central defender who played in the Championship last season, while the other plays for Anderlecht, who recently finished third in the Belgian league.
At left back, the Red Devils had Yannick Carrasco, who is anything but a left back and who now plays in Saudi, so let’s be honest, Man is likely to be far from out of his depth here.
Factor in that he averages 1.15 shots on target per 90 minutes at club level, not to mention 2.21 shots per game during qualifying, and odds of +162 look on the large side, at least to me.
Recap - Belgium vs Romania betting picks
To confirm, ahead of Belgium vs Romania, we’re betting on:
Lois Openda Over 0.5 Assists @ +350 with bet365
Dennis Man Over 0.5 Shots on Target @ +162 with bet365
