Today’s early fixture featured Belgium vs. Russia. The stage was set in Rio De Janeiro for a great match as Belgium come from a 2-1 win, just edging out Algeria and Russia come off a 1 all tie against South Korea. Both teams look to keep their chances of advancing into the knockout stages, which could prove to be a cagey match.
The match started slowly but then in the 20th minute did it really come to life when the Napoli forward, Driers Mertens, was the bright outlet for the Belgian side. He took chance after chance to test the Russian keeper but no clear-cut chances at goal. Mertens slick dribbling proved to be a problem for the Russians back line.
Late into the first half, Russia came back firing with the best chance of the entire match thus far. Russia’s Denis Glushakov, whipped in a menacing ball into the Belgian area that resulted in Alexander Kokorin hitting the free header slightly wide of the far post.
Coming close to the end of a very cagey match, Belgian really began to apply the pressure and pushing for that win. Marc Wilmots side had made some necessary substitutions that gave Belgium that extra push and try to get the win. Once again though after absorbing much pressure, Russia came close to breaking the deadlock when Andrey Eshchenko drilled a low shot right across Thibaut Courtois’ goal barely skipping past the upright in the 81st minute.
Minutes later Belgium was awarded a free kick in a dangerous area just outside the Russian goal box. Substitute Kevin Mirallas stepped up to take the kick that beat the fooled keeper by instead going to his near post instead of going over the wall. The shot resulted in hitting off the post, keeping the score level.
Eden Hazard really came to life with his amazing dribbling and vision were creating problems for the tired Russian side. He came close in minute 85 to scoring by dribbling in the box between several resilient defenders until firing a shot at goal the was deflected for a corner kick. The deadlock was broken when Belgium went forward on a counter attack through Hazard on the wing that dribbled past the right back and played it across goal to connect with Lille forward, Divock Origi.
Another swift Belgian counter attack created a second goal that Mirallas was only able to shoot right at the keeper. He went for accuracy instead of drilling a hard shot. Belgium saw the rest of the match out to get the win and advance to the knockout phase first in group H on 6 points.
Photo Credit: Getty Images South America
