Belgium recorded a hard-fought victory on Wednesday evening visiting Belarus. In the World Cup qualifier, national coach Roberto Martínez’s team led 0-1 at halftime, and no more goals were scored in the second half. The coach took a gamble by sending a glorified B-team into the field. Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Axel Witsel, among others, did not appear at the kick-off. Thanks to the three-pointer in Group E, the World Cup ticket is within reach for the Red Devils.
Already in the third minute of play, the Belgians came close to the opening goal. From the left, Dodi Lukebakio had a low cross home to Michy Batshuayi, who struck from close range but saw goalkeeper Sergey Chernik make the save. The next opportunity arose after fifteen minutes of play for Leandro Trossard, who shot just over the bar after a quickly taken free kick. Although Belgium was the dominant party, goalkeeper Koen Casteels also had to take action a little later. Face to face with the closing post, Nikolai Zolotov failed to capitalize on his imposed chance.
Dennis Praet gives Belgium a 0-1 lead ?? At the suggestion of Alexis Saelemaekers ????#ZiggoSport #WCQ2022 #BLRBEL pic.twitter.com/0ziF9sEtby
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) September 8, 2021
After half an hour of play, the aluminum stood in the way of a Belgian goal. Dedryck Boyata fired on the enemy goal from outside the box after a falling ball, but hit the crossbar hard. Batshuayi also failed to open the score from the rebound. Two minutes later, the opening goal came after all. After beautiful combination football, Alexis Saelemaekers delivered the ball to Praet, who outsmarted Chernik with a shot into the bottom corner: 0-1.
In the second company, Belgium continued where it had left off for the break, although they forgot to crown the attacking spirit with a goal. Lukebakio finally tried to bring Belarus to its knees with a long shot and Batshuayi also contributed halfway through the second half; both attempts were unsuccessful, however.
It was Belgium’s third win in this international break, after previously beating Estonia (2-5) and the Czech Republic (3-0). With sixteen points from six matches, the Belgians lead the group sovereignly, in which the Czech Republic is second (seven out of five). Successively Wales, Belarus and Estonia complete the group.