Late 2nd half debacle foils Finland´s move to hold Belgium

Finland lost to Belgium by 0-2 in their last group match in the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship at Saint Petersburg Stadium in Russia late Monday night.

Although a draw was enough for the Finns to reach to the second round of the tournament as group runners-up, the defeat threw the newcomers into an uncertain fate.

With the results, Finland placed third in the group with three points, where Denmark snatched the 2nd spot with the same points on goal difference. Belgium remained top in the group with nine points and Russia at the bottom with three points.

Now the possibility for Finland became very thin to qualify to the next round as third team as it depends on the results of some other matches in other groups.

Finland started the match with a defensive attitude and succeed to reach the target to hold Belgium until the 74^th minute of the match but the debacle in the last 15 minutes forced the Finns to consume the defeat.

Belgium dominated possession and kept Finland on the back foot from the very beginning of the match but for all that the "Red Devil" were only able to test goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky twice, through Romelu Lukaku and Jeremy Doku, in the first half.

After the break Belgium continued to create pressure on Finland from the beginning of second half.

Romelu Lukaku's goal in the 65th minute was cancelled by the VAR system but a suicide goal took the Finns behind when Finland goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky deflected a header, that dropped off the post, into his own goal at the 74^th minute.

Finland posed no threat to Belgium's defense and had to swallow the second goal seven minutes later as Lukaku got his name on the scoreboards after utilizing Kevin de Bruyne's build-up work to kill the game.

Although Finland created few sporadic opportunities, they failed to bring any result due to failure of the strikers.

Earlier, on June 12, Finland made history at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen after they beat Denmark by a solitary goal in their first ever UEFA European Championship match. The Finns lost to Russia in their second match by an extra time goal.