The last round of second match-day fixtures would be over by the end of this evening; its gone seriously quickly hasn’t it?! Kicking off today’s action were two sides who were saved by their substitutes in their first games; Belgium and Russia. This game looked like a thrilling contest on paper as Belgium are one of the most fluent attacking sides in the tournament whereas Russia, organised by Fabio Capello, are one of the better defensive sides). Which of these two sides would prevail when they came face to face? Read on to find out!
The Belgians started the liveliest, winning a corner in the opening minute; Fellaini and Witsel were heavily involved for Marc Wilmots’ side in the opening exchanges, shifting play from left to right, with the former looking to get forward as often as possible. The media build-up suggested, on the basis of both sides’ first games, that Russia would very much be pegged back throughout most of this game and unable to make significant inroads offensively. Whilst they may not have been frequently getting forward early on, when they did they caused problems as they had the best opportunity in the opening exchanges. Faizulin fired a low, curling effort from the edge of the box towards Courtois who could only parry, forcing Van Buyten to clear for the corner.
Mertens continued his good form from the last game, and indeed from the end of the season for Napoli, to give Belgium some really good chances in the first half. His first chance came when picking the ball up near the centre circle before making his way towards the Russian box; Kombarov came across to make the challenge but was completely wrong-footed, allowing Mertens to fire just wide from 25 yards.
Two minutes later, Mertens was at it again; most of the play was focussed on the Belgian left-hand side at this point, however Kevin De Bruyne found Mertens with a beautiful first-time pass, allowing him another one-on-one with Kombarov. The young left-back fared much better this time though, forcing Mertens wide, having to take a difficult shot that never troubled Akinfeev. Kannunikov then broke free momentarily down the Russian left to send another low drive at Courtois who, again, could only spill the shot out for Van Buyten to clear. If Russia had someone just playing off the last line of defence they might’ve been able to capitalise on these frequent spills by Courtois.
Kannunikov then broke free momentarily down the Russian left to send another low drive at Courtois who, again, could only spill the shot out for Van Buyten to clear. If Russia had someone just playing off the last line of defence they might’ve been able to capitalise on these frequent spills by Courtois. Alexander Kokorin then had the best chance of the first half by far and the Russians will have been devastated that he fluffed it. Played in by a beautiful cross from Glushakov from the Russian left, Kokorin had roamed into space between the two Belgian centre-backs. Neither centre-back committed to challenging him in the air and the striker had a free header which flew wide past the goal of the rooted Thibaut Courtois before half-time arrived.
The talk during the interval was of the slow, sometimes dreary nature of the first half that had just passed. Belgium really didn’t get into their stride and Russia weren’t quite good enough offensively (for the most-part) to force the Belgians into action; Lukaku in particular was coming under considerable criticism. Belgium made steps at half-time to rectify that, bringing Hazard into a more central role in an attempt to bring Lukaku into the game a bit more.
Wilmots seemed to think enough was enough on the hour mark though as Lukaku made his exit, being substituted for Divock Origi. It initially didn’t make much difference as Belgium really struggled to get a foothold in the game; even Mertens was anonymous throughout the opening 20 minutes of the second period. Russia were more or less in control of the game, willing to give Belgium possession in the less dangerous areas of the pitch but winning it back quickly once the Belgians attacked. Belgium were different: very lazy defensively, barely pressing at all until the Russians made significant inroads into their half before leaving it up to Kompany or Witsel to make the crucial moves.
Eden Hazard really came alive in the last five minutes for Belgium though and his contribution proved crucial. With five minutes left he picked up the ball on the left from Fellaini before heading into the Russian box from the flank, dancing around two defenders before trying to lay the ball off to Origi for the shot but sees the pass cleared away. Soon afterwards, the Chelsea winger made another move; very similar to the previous effort, coming in from the left and leaving two defenders for dead, he learns his lesson from last time and tries to take the shot on himself but sees it blocked. The third time proved to be the ticket for Hazard though as he did exactly the same thing again but this time successfully played in Origi who scored to put Belgium 1-0 up.
Hazard, with a little bit of help, pulled it out of the bag for Belgium right at the death then. The best teams work until the end to get the result and manage to pull it out of the bag. Belgium were rather poor on the whole and were made to look very ordinary by a good Russian side. The Belgians will definitely have to do better in the next round but they’ve done well enough to get by so far. Stick with us here at Fortitude to see whether or not they can pull it out of the bag once the knockout rounds arrive!