"Finland? Exciting!" National football coach Roberto Martinez on the Euro 2020 draw
The coach of the Belgian national football team, Roberto Martinez, thinks it may be an idea to leave Brussels and move to Saint Petersburg for the Euro 2020 European Championships. He made this conclusion after the draw was made.
The draw that was not really a draw. At least, for Belgium's Red Devils most things had been decided already: Belgium would meet Russia, Denmark and either Wales or Finland. Belgium will eventually meet newcomers Finland, and not Wales, and now know when exactly they are playing their group matches:
- 13 June: Russia - Belgium (Saint Petersburg)
- 18 June: Denmark Belgium (Copenhagen)
- 22 June: Finland - Belgium (Saint Petersburg)
"The fewer hours we need to spend in the air, the better", team coach Roberto Martinez told reporters after it turned out that the third match would take place in Saint Petersburg as well. "We will have to be ready from the start. So it's maybe an idea to move our training camp to Saint Petersburg." Click on the video on top of this page to listen to the full interview with Roberto Martinez (reporter: football pundit Peter Vandenbempt)
Belgium, who enjoyed a seeded status after posting a impressive 30 out of 30 points in their qualifying group, would have had the opportunity to play before their home crowd in Brussels, but technical and infrastructural reasons decided otherwise: the plans for the new stadium didn't make it in the end due to technicalities.
The last 16: who to meet in the possible knock-out phase?
If they win the group stage, Belgium move to Bilbao to meet a number 3 from another group. If they take second place, they move to Amsterdam to play another number 2, either Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands or Switzerland.
