Photo: Romelu Lukaku celebrates after coming off the bench to score for Belgium against the USA. Belgium won the game 2-1. (Getty Images)
Once again in the FIFA World Cup the substitute introduced by Marc Wilmots made a significant impact and led Belgium to victory. A dominant display by the Red Devils which saw US goalkeeper Tim Howard made a record 16 saves in a World Cup match, was rewarded by two goals with Romelu Lukaku at the heart of things.
The first save from Howard came in minute 1 from an effort from Kevin De Bruyne. He linked up brilliantly with Dries Mertens and then Divock Origi before Howard got in the way of his shot from an acute angle. The Belgians kept possession of the ball well in midfield and used the width of the pitch but saw their efforts in the final third thwarted by the US defense. Clint Dempsey linked up with Michael Bradley on 21 minutes but saw his effort from a cross saved comfortably by Thibaut Courtois.
De Bruyne should have at least hit the target on 23 minutes when Jan Vertonghen caught out Graham Zusi down the left. He passed to De Bruyne who cut unto his right foot but dragged his shot wide of Howard’s right hand upright. Howard denied Eden Hazard on 29 minutes when the Chelsea man got passed 2 defenders but his stinging shot was saved by the Everton stopper. Substitute DeAndre Yedlin then made a dangerous cross to Zusi but the Kansas City attacker couldn’t connect and the danger was cleared. A very entertaining first half ended 0-0.
Just three minutes after the restart, De Bruyne crossed to Mertens whose header was tipped over the bar by Howard. Vertonghen then fired in a lovely cross from the left but somehow Origi couldn’t connect and the US escaped again on 54 minutes. Two minutes later Origi hit the bar with a great header from Toby Alderweireld’s cross from the right. A minute later, Vertonghen hit a wonderful volley from Mertens’ cross but he hit it too sweet and it went over the bar.
Mertens almost broke the deadlock on the hour mark when Origi glided pass a couple of defenders and crossed to the Napoli winger whose flick went just wide. Axel Witsel went very close on 69 minutes with a fierce shot from outside the box that had Howard rooted to the spot. Three minutes later Howard denied Origi again after substitute Kevin Mirallas dragged his cross for the Lille striker whose first time effort was blocked by the keeper. Hazard then released Mirallas behind the defense but Howard came up big again after being one-on-one with his club teammate in the 76th minute.
In the 79th minute, Hazard saw is effort pushed away by Howard after Mirallas did some great work down the right. Daniel Van Buyten was the next Belgian to be denied by Howard when he was played through by Vincent Kompany following a corner. He was one-on-one with Howard who blocked the effort. Two minutes later Howard was in a great position to push Origi’s effort over the bar. After all their dominance, Belgium could have lost but substitute Chris Wondolowski could not hit the target from point blank range in the second minute of stoppage time. Jurgen Klinsmann was in disbelief as the game ended 0-0 after 90 minutes meaning extra time was next.
De Bruyne opened the scoring just three minutes into extra time after a powerful run by Lukaku who replaced Origi. The Chelsea striker used his strength to get passed Matt Besler then cuts it back to De Bruyne whose shot went into the far corner passed Howard finally. In the 101st minute, Lukaku was denied by Howard after receiving a Witsel pass but could not beat the keeper one-on-one. Lukaku finally got passed Howard on 105 minutes when he latched onto De Bruyne’s pass to fire powerfully passed the former Manchester United keeper to make it 2-0.
Extra time substitute Julian Green made it interesting when he finished off an excellent pass from Bradley on 107 minutes to make it 2-1. It was a good finish from the youngster but Courtois would think that he should have done better. Jermaine Jones almost leveled two minutes later but his effort went wide of the post with Courtois beaten. It was end-to-end as Lukaku got passed two defenders and was one-on-one with Howard on 110 minutes. His shot was again beaten away by man-of-the-match Howard who keep the Stars and Stripes within one goal.
Bradley and Jones then worked an excellent free kick which fell to Dempsey but Courtois made an outstanding save coming off his line quickly on 114 minutes. The US pressed forward but was unable to get an equalizer. The game ended 2-1 and the Belgians booked a date with Argentina which should be entertaining. They were impressive going forward but was caught out a few times by the Americans so there is still a bit of work to do by Wilmots’ men.
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