For the first time in the history of the European Championships, all four sides in a group have finished on four points as Group E has concluded with Romania, Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine all on equal footing. To the surprise of everyone, Romania, who won just their second-ever match in the Euros earlier this month, finished first, while Belgium finished as runners-up and Slovakia came in third, meaning those three sides will move on to the knockout stages.
It’s a cruel blow for Ukraine, though, who are the first-ever nation to fail to progress from a group in the European Championships after finishing on four points. It’s especially tough as they’ve finished level on points with everyone else in their group, but there’s a very specific reason for their fate and that is down to their goal difference being inferior to everyone else in Group E.
Euro 2024 Group E | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Position | Team | Points | Goal Difference |
1 | Romania | 4 | +1 |
2 | Belgium | 4 | +1 |
3 | Slovakia | 4 | 0 |
4 | Ukraine | 4 | -2 |
Ukraine’s Goal Difference Was Worse Than Everyone Else
An early 3-0 loss decided their fate
When a group is as tight as this one, and with teams on the same amount of points, the positioning is generally decided by goal difference and that was the case here. Taking into account how many goals each team had scored, but also how many they had conceded, Ukraine were the only team to have registered a negative goal difference, having conceded four throughout the tournament, while only scoring twice. This meant their goal difference was -2.
Romania scored four times while conceding three goals, so they finished with a goal difference of +1, similarly, Belgium scored twice and conceded just one goal, so they also finished with a goal difference of +1. When the goal difference is the same, as it was here, then the positioning in the table is decided by which side scored the most goals. Slovakia finished with a goal difference of 0, having scored and conceded the exact same number of goals throughout.
Belgium Have Been Very Disappointing
They have struggled
Despite finishing second and making their way into the next stage of Euro 2024, Belgium will be far from happy with their performances so far. The nation are currently ranked third in the FIFA world rankings but haven’t looked anywhere close to that level during their three matches so far.
Losing to Slovakia and drawing to Ukraine, a win against Romania spared their blushes, but they aren’t firing on all cylinders right now. Finishing second in Group E means Kevin De Bruyne and company face the task of taking on Kylian Mbappe and France in the last of 16, and if they continue to play as they have so far, they’ll struggle to get over the first hurdle.