Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard combined to secure Belgium’s best performance at a World Cup as they edged England 2-0 in the third-place play-off in St Petersburg on Saturday.
Suspended for the loss to France, Meunier’s returned as one of two changes which allowed Roberto Martinez to revert to his preferred three-man defensive shape.
The Paris Saint-Germain wing-back needed just four minutes to illustrate his value, racing into the box to get across Danny Rose and tuck home Nacer Chadli’s classy low cross in from the left.
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10 – Thomas Meunier is the 10th different player to score for Belgium at the 2018 World Cup – the joint-most different scorers for a team at a single World Cup (also 10 for France in 1982 and Italy in 2006). Spread. #BELENG #BEL #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/ACnK9xvP14
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 14, 2018
The tournament’s top scorers were fluid going forward and might have been further ahead had Jordan Pickford not clawed away a deflected Kevin De Bruyne finish.
Harry Kane should have brought England level 10 minutes later but, from an intelligent Raheem Sterling lay-off, scuffed wide off the left post.
Tottenham team-mate Toby Alderweireld was similarly wasteful when he hooked over the bar shortly after the half-hour, although Belgium’s only real setback by half-time was the loss of Chadli to an apparent hamstring injury.
Gareth Southgate responded to the deficit by introducing Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard in place of Raheem Sterling and Rose at the interval.
Manchester United midfielder Lingard almost made the desired impact when his drive across goal narrowly evaded captain Kane.
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At the other end, Romelu Lukaku’s heavy touch on the end of a clever De Bruyne pass scuppered the striker’s final chance to close in on his opposite number’s tally for the Golden Boot, Dries Mertens replacing him on the hour.
With a sluggish Kane continuing to struggle, Eric Dier stepped up and nearly equalised 20 minutes from time. The midfielder burst through for a one-on-one and delicately dinked over Thibaut Courtois, only to see a retreating Toby Alderweireld desperately hack the ball off the line.
Everton keeper Jordan Pickford, a contender for the team of the tournament, kept his country in the game with a sublime one-handed save from Meunier in the 80th minute.
7 – Eden Hazard has been directly involved in seven goals at the World Cup (three goals, four assists); the joint-most of any Belgium player since 1966 (Jan Ceulemans also with seven). Rocket. #BELENG #BEL #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Gaz8VqtsSE
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 14, 2018
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But it mattered little in the end, Hazard making no mistake with his near-post finish having been sent clean through by De Bruyne, the star pair combining to put a fitting seal on Belgium’s impressive showing in Russia.
