Belgium finally found its footing at the World Cup, defeating New Zealand 5-1 to advance to the knockout round atop Group G. Leandro Trossard scored a pair of goals, and Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, and Alexis Saelemaekers also scored for the Belgians.
Advancing to the Next Round
Belgium will face an as-yet undetermined third-place finisher on Wednesday in Seattle. The match was played simultaneously to the other group finale in Seattle between Egypt and Iran, which ended in a 1-1 draw, dropping Egypt out of first.
The Belgians went into the match a surprising third in its group after opening the World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Egypt and a scoreless draw against Iran. “I think we had the chances as well in the first two games, and we didn’t take them. So it’s important that we took them today,” Trossard said.
Elijah Just scored for New Zealand, which needed to win outright to have a chance at advancing. The All Whites head home without a first-ever World Cup win.
Original reporting: Dallas TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
