KEVIN DE BRUYNE’S Euros appears to be the start of a lamentable goodbye rather than the beginning of a glorious rejuvenation.
The fine margins of the current discourse surrounding Belgium’s finest player for a generation can be measured in millimeters in the six-yard box and peaks on a wavelength courtesy of a microchip placed inside a football.
That’s how close the second highest ranked team in this tournament came from overturning a one-goal deficit and pilfering all three points against the side 45 places below them in the FIFA world rankings.
Romelu Lukaku’s big toe was in an offside position when he thought he drew the teams level early in the second half and there seemed to be nothing wrong with his second disallowed goal on 86 minutes until VAR intervened.
This is when the new football technology came into play.
A long, hopeful ball over the top was contested by substitute Lois Openda and centre back Denis Vavro. The tricky forward showed strength and composure to hold him off before delivering a pin-point cross into the box for Lukaku to smash home from beside the penalty spot.
Belgium – and De Bruyne – rejoiced.
Their relief was short lived and the handball was so slight that it required the new microchip technology to confirm for sure that there was a touch.
How it could be deemed deliberate or gaining an advantage with Vavro still tussling with Openda is another question.
It was a dramatic end to a rueful occasion for Belgium, and in particular De Bruyne whose shelf life on the top table of European football is drawing to a close.
The Manchester City midfielder admitted before these championships that he was considering a move to Saudi Arabia purely to grow his bank balance. “I will be able to earn an incredible amount of money. Before that I had to play football for 15 years. I may not even reach that amount yet,” he said.
Given he is reportedly the highest paid player in the Premier League that gives an indication of the riches on offer.
De Bruyne turns 33 on June 28 and two days beforehand they play Ukraine in their final group game.
That may well be the clash to avoid finishing with the wooden spoon.
It’s as close as De Bruyne may come to a trophy in international football.
After five minutes in Frankfurt it looked as though Belgium would stroll to a comfortable victory over Slovakia and that their captain would be the talisman.
By the seventh minute Domenico Tedesco’s side had given away such a farcical goal that it was a gut punch that left them winded until a second-half rally finally put their opponents under any kind of strain.
VAR came to the rescue, but even more than those game-changing decisions if there was a passage of play to sum up the frustration that De Bruyne felt, and the sheer ineptitude of the midfield he was relying on to provide the strong basis from which he could thrive, it came with five minutes remaining in the first half.
Slovakia allowed Belgium possession outside their penalty area but once they approached the middle of their own half a five-man press made Zeno Debast hurry his pass.
Leandro Trossard still should have done better with his touch, despite the rushed nature of the ball into him, but the Arsenal forward’s control was poor and Slovakia regained the ball along their own backline.
🇧🇪 0-1 🇸🇰
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 17, 2024
Just when it looks like Lukaku has finally done it, he has a second goal disallowed. This time for a handball by Openda in the build-up. Harsh?
📺 Watch on @rte2 and @rteplayer#Euro2024 pic.twitter.com/5XYkRZZV7m
De Bruyne sought to maintain the tempo and force a similar turnover, sprinting some 15 yards to do so.
Slovakia, though, could simply pass around him and Orel Mangala had not anticipated his captain’s initiative. The 26-year-old was caught on his heels, De Bruyne pointed at him to get a move on, but by then it was too late.
Slovakia maintained possession and, rather than slow the tempo, they went in for the kill.
And, once again, the other Belgian midfielder playing deep alongside Mangala was nowhere to be seen.
Juraj Kucka, the 37-year-old, left Andre Onana for dust with a run down the right channel. His cross to the back post was met by a superb Lukáš Haraslín volley and only for an equally impressive save from Koen Casteels the Slovaks would have taken a two-goal lead into the break.
Those few seconds highlighted just how much Belgium’s midfield was operating as three solitary parts rather than a cohesive unit.
De Bruyne’s limitations were shown up as a result.
Tedesco inspired a swift reaction at the break and but for Lukaku straying millimeters offside from an Onana knockdown in the six-yard box they would have been level on 56 minutes.
Belgium, and De Bruyne, continued to turn up the heat and when Jeremy Doku’s stirring run down the left ended with his cross being deflected into the path of Johan Bakayoko it looked to be a certain equaliser on 62 minutes.
Not so.
The defensive heroics of David Hancko denied the substitute on the goal line.
Belgium’s desperation grew and De Bruyne just couldn’t work himself into the kind of areas where he could do any real damage.
Think of so many of his assists for City and they come from that space between the right channel and midfield.
This performance just seemed muddled.
De Bruyne has suffered a series of hamstring injuries in recent years, revealing how a tear at the start of the Premier League last August was the third separate area that was damaged.
The resulting surgery led to five months out of action.
When he did return in mid January he made an immediate impact. His long, flowing locks almost as luscious as his passing.
But his influence seemed to wane by May and it appeared as though the relationship with City boss Pep Guardiola was strained.
In his last five games for City he completed 90 minutes just once and was hooked after just 57 minutes of the FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United.
Tedesco hooked Trossard and Doku rather than his captain and one bursting run into the box in the the third minute of injury time hinted that there was still fire in the belly.
But not in the legs, and the finish back across goal was weak.
De Bruyne lasted until the bitter end, but for how much longer will the end go on for?
