Lukaku bags twice as Belgium ease past Panama

The 'Red Devils' were clear favourites ahead of the tie, and looking at the starting lineups named, it was easy to see why. With the talent of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku in their ranks, Belgium can threaten anyone, and they showed that in the first period. 

They weren't at the peak of their powers in the first 45 minutes, lacking a cutting edge in the final third, but their star men produced flashes of brilliance on various occasions. 

As he has been doing all season in Manchester, De Bruyne ran the show in midfield, and he was at the centre of almost every Belgian attack. Hazard and Lukaku created a few half-chances for themselves, but there was nothing to shout about. 

 

June 18, 2018

Panama, meanwhile, were quite resilient. They stood firm in defence, shutting their opponents out. That said, they didn't really pose much threat of their own, and a large cheer went up from their supporters when the halftime whistle was blown with the score at 0-0.

Roberto Martinez's side clicked into gear after the break, and scored just minutes after coming back out onto the pitch.

The breakthrough came from Dries Mertens, in the 47th minute of the game. Eden Hazard was involved in an aerial challenge with Armando Cooper in the box, and the ball fell to Mertens just outside the area. The Napoli forward hit it on the half-volley, and it flew into the top corner over Jaime Penedo to give the favourites the advantage.

The game was quite a scrappy affair from then on, and there were a total of five yellow cards in the second half. Belgium's class shone through, though, and they doubled their lead in the 69th minute.

Romelu Lukaku was the goalscorer, finishing off a move that involved all three of Belgium's star men. Hazard picked it up down the left, cutting inside and feeding De Bruyne, and the Manchester City man picked out a lovely dinked ball into the box to find Lukaku, who was waiting just onside at the back post. From there it was easy for the striker, and he placed a simple header into the net to make it 2-0.

The powerful forward added another to his tally just six minutes later, completing a classic counter attacking move to finish Panama off. Hazard was involved again, speeding upfield in bags of space before feeding Lukaku. The Manchester United striker had just Penedo to beat, and ran onto it before dinking it a neat finish over the keeper.

Despite the scoreline, Belgium don't look to have hit full stride yet, but their star quality was too much for a pretty poor Panama on the day. Belgium move top of the group, as expected, and look a fairly certain bet to make it to the knockouts.