Euro 2024 Group E: New Belgium lead intriguing quartet 🇧🇪🇸🇰🇷🇴🇺🇦 | OneFootball

Group E may not boast too many heavyweight names but it could be one of the most intriguing of the tournament.

Who is in Group E?

The favourites

Belgium are considered heavy favourites to finish in top spot here but could face considerable competition from an ever-improving Slovakia side and a Romania outfit who were unbeaten in qualification.

Belgium boss Domenico Tedesco made a huge call last month by not picking Thibaut Courotis – arguably the world’s best goalkeeper – after the pair fell out at the end of last year.

That disagreement has opened up the door for Luton shot-stopper Thomas Kaminski to potentially start and although the 31-year-old has impressed in the Premier League, is nowhere near Courtois’ level.

Elsewhere there’s been something of a sea change amongst the rest of the squad with a new breed of youngsters trying to succeed where the Golden Generation failed.

The likes Jérémy Doku, Amadou Onana and Johan Bakayoko could have a huge say on Belgium’s performance this summer.

What’s the key game?

The Frankfurt Arena will play host to just the second game of Group E but perhaps the most important.

Belgium, favourites to top the table, will take on Slovakia in what really should amount to a shoot-out for first place.

June 17 is the date for your diaries and with 3.1 million Belgium fans registering for tickets this summer, it should be a brilliant match on and off the pitch.

Can you give me a player to watch for each team?

Jérémy Doku (Belgium)

With the likes of Dries Mertens, Michy Batshuayi and Eden Hazard having walked out into the sunset, it’s up to a new generation of attackers to try and fire Belgium to glory in Germany.

One of those is Jérémy Doku who comes into this tournament having starred for Manchester City over the past 10 months.

Doku’s searing pace and unpredictable nature can be maddening at times as he runs down blinds alleys but, crucially, it can also cause chaos for defenders.

If Belgium are to do well, they’ll need Doku at his best.

Stanislav Lobotka (Slovakia)

Under Italian coach Francesco Calzona, Slovakia have been playing a methodical possession-based game and most of that goes through Stanislav Lobotka.

Lobotka played almost every minute of every game for Napoli this past season and although it wasn’t a stellar campaign for the Partenopei, the 29-year-old still impressed and is now the first name on the team sheet for Slovakia.

His metronomic passing and ability ride a challenge at the base of the midfield could prove to be invaluable.

Valentin Mihăilă (Romania)

Valentin Mihăilă has everything in his locker to impress this summer for Romania.

The Eastern European nation were excellent in qualification, winning six and drawing four of their 10 games and topping Group I by five points.

Mihăilă scored three goals including a brilliant double away in Switzerland.

The 23-year-old winger was also one of Parma’s star men as they finished top of Serie B this term to earn their place back in the Italian top flight.

Mykhaylo Mudryk (Ukraine)

It wasn’t a great club campaign for Mykhaylo Mudryk with the pacy winger struggling for game time at Chelsea.

But on the international stage the 23-year-old was all-important as his 84th minute winner saw Ukraine beat Iceland in the Path B play-off.

With some new-found confidence and an almost guaranteed starting berth, this could be the tournament where Mudryk shows everyone just why the Blues paid €100m for his services.

And the big storyline?

Just getting to Euro 2024 has been seen as something of a triumph for this Ukrainian side.

They impressed in qualifying but finished third – level on points with Italy and just six behind leaders England.

And then handily beat Bosnia away from home in their play-off route before leaving it late to get past Iceland in the final.

All this whilst a war rages on at home.

It would be very reasonable to excuse any of these players for having their minds’ on other things and yet here there are, representing their country in front of the world.

Having accomplished all that to get to Germany, it would be fitting for this nation to go deep this summer.

Prediction