World Cup 2018: Eden Hazard nets as Belgium finish third with win over England
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ByEurosport
Updated 14/07/2018 at 17:06 GMT
World Cup third-placed play-off, Saint Petersburg Stadium - Belgium 2 (Meunier 4, Hazard 72')
Belgium players pose for a photo after recieving their third place medals during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia 3rd Place Playoff match between Belgium and England at Saint Petersburg Stadium.
Image credit: Eurosport
Eden Hazard scored late on as Belgium completed a merited 2-0 win over England in St Petersburg to finish third in the World Cup.
Thomas Meunier took advantage of some slopping defending to score the opener on four minutes before Hazard gave Phil Jones the slip to finish off Gareth Southgate's side on 82 minutes.
England had their moments in the second half with Eric Dier seeing a chip cleared off the line by Toby Alderweireld after beating Thibaut Courtois.
While England battled hard in the second half to recover, Belgium always looked the slicker side on the break and they ran out comfortable winners to secure third place in the finals, 32 years after a fourth-place finish in the 1986 World Cup finals. It is their most successful campaign at a World Cup.
England striker Harry Kane was again disappointing, missing an obvious chance in the first half as he dragged the ball wide from a Raheem Sterling ball, but is in line to win the Golden Boot with his six goals at the tournament.
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Belgium celebrate their victory.
Image credit: Getty Images
TALKING POINT
Free-flowing Belgium too good for England: This young and largely inexperienced England side have plenty of talent, but on this showing they have a lot to do to match Belgium. Again the Three Lions were dangerous from set-pieces, but they lacked creativity in midfield, and their front-line was starved of service. The statistics will show England dominated possession, but not in areas of the pitch that caused much threat to the opposition.
They wanted to play the safe pass, while Belgium moved the ball from their defence to attack at a frightening pace, driven by the fantastic Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne, who caused Southgate's side all kind of problems. It is a style of football England will hope to adopt at the European Championships in 2020, but they're missing a genuine world class midfield player. Or two.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium): How England desperately need a player like the Manchester City magician. He is such a beautiful player to watch. Picking the ball up from deep positions, he continued to drive forward with speed and determination, picking out team mates with ease.
PLAYER RATINGS
- England: Pickford 6, Jones 5, Stones 7, Maguire 6, Trippier 7, Dier 6, Delph 6, Rose 4, Loftus-Cheek 7, Sterling 5, Kane 5. Subs: Alli N/A, Rashford 7, Lingard 7
- Belgium: Courtois 7, Alderweireld 7, Kompany 7, Vertonghen 7, Meunier 8, Witsel 6, De Bruyne 9, Tielemans 7, Chadli 5, Lukaku 6, Hazard 9. Subs: Dembele 5, Mertens 6, Vermaelen 6
KEY MOMENTS
- 4' - GOAL! Belgium 1-0 England: Well, that didn't take long, did it? England are opened up far too easily. Lukaku is allowed too much space in midfield and he releases Chadli on the left. He glances up, spots Meunier in the box and delivers an inch-perfect cross. Meunier gets in front of Rose and slots it home for Belgium's opener.
- 23' - CHANCE! Clever run from Sterling as he latches onto Dier's long ball before laying it off to Kane. The Tottenham forward loses his balance as he tries the first-time shot which he screws well wide. He snatched at it.
- 54' - CLOSE! Belgium are caught sleeping as Trippier's throw-in finds Lingard in space on the edge of the box. His volley is agonisingly wide of Courtois' goal - it also just evaded the toe of Kane.
- 70' - OFF THE LINE! Dier plays a one-two with Rashford to carve open the Belgium defence! The Tottenham midfielder dinks it over Courtois but his club team mate Alderweireld makes a crucial goal-line clearance!
- 80' - GREAT SAVE AFTER A WONDERFUL MOVE! Loftus-Cheek concedes possession and now Belgium are on break. They produce a scintillating counter-attacking move, as De Bruyne releases Hazard, he crosses for Meunier whose first-time shot is brilliantly stopped by Pickford.
- 82' - GOAL! Belgium 2-0 England: Game over. The phenomenal De Bruyne releases Hazard and in a scene reminiscent of the FA Cup final, the Chelsea forward gets behind Jones, before drilling the ball past Pickford.
KEY STATS
- England have lost consecutive matches for the first time since June 2014, when they were beaten by Italy and Uruguay at the 2014 World Cup.
- 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).
- 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).
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