Belgium 3-0 Panama, World Cup 2018, Group G: Easy win for Belgium
Romelu Lukaku grabbed a double after a superb Dries Mertens volley to give Belgium a comfortable victory over Panama at the Fisht Stadium in Group G.
Belgium went off dejected at half-time in their opening game of Group G, against Panama, making their World Cup debut. The Belgians had made enough chances in the opening 45, helped by some occasionally madcap defending from Panama, but profligacy and some inspired work from Panama keeper Jaime Penedo ensured the scoreboard operator in Sochi had nothing to do.
Things changed right at the start of the second half though, when a superb Dries Mertens volley sparked Belgium into life. His effort was then followed up by a solid header from Romelu Lukaku, taking full advantage of a superb De Bruyne ball, and a second for the Manchester United man in the 75th minute when he raced through and skilfully chipped Penedo to make it 3-0.
Belgium will be delighted to get this win under their belt, having looked somewhat disjointed at times. Panama have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid finishing bottom of Group G.
Belgium 3-0 Panama: how it happened
Belgium - Panama live stream online: preview
The Fisht Stadium in Sochi, Russia, is the venue for the Group G opener between Belgium and Panama and Roberto Martinez' side have slowly crept into contention after underperforming favourites' recent games. Kick-off from Russia is at 17:00 CEST.
The biggest omission and talking point from Martinez' side was Radja Nainggolan of AS Roma and he subsequently retired from international football. The Belgium manager spoke to Guillem Balague recently, however, and in a round-about way explained why he didn't select the midfielder. He said that players who are used to playing with their clubs find it hard to adapt when they make it to a tournament and don't start. In any case, he has plenty of attacking talent in his squad with Eden Hazard, who is reportedly in the freshest form of his life, along with Kevin de Bruyne, Dries Mertens and Romalu Lukaku. The only issue for Belgium might be figure out an algorithm to squeeze all of their talented players into the squad. Martinez says "we are 100% ready for the World Cup" and that statement will be put to the test on Monday night.
Panama are playing at their first World Cup ever and will likely shut down, or at least try to, all routes to goal for the Red Devils. This will be a very defensive and unified performance from Panama and will have to be. They will be relying on Luis Tejada of Sporting Boys Callao up front to maybe nick them a goal but this will be more about the collective than any one player tonight at the Fisht Stadium.