Belgium prove too strong for debutants Panama
England win
SOCHI, Russia, June 18, (AFP): Romelu Lukaku netted a brace as a muchimproved second-half performance gave Belgium an ultimately comfortable 3-0 victory over tournament debutants Panama in their World Cup opener in Sochi on Monday.
A moment of inspiration from Dries Mertens set the Belgians on their way two minutes after the break, his volley breaking the deadlock after a rather flat first period.
Lukaku then converted assists from Kevin De Bruyne and captain Eden Hazard to secure victory in this Group G clash, with the Central Americans succumbing to a defeat in their first-ever match at the finals.
Group rivals England will look to respond to Belgium’s win when they kick off their campaign against Tunisia but this was not entirely the statement of intent that Roberto Martinez’s side would have been hoping to make.
A victory will do for a team who are, on paper at least, good enough to go far in Russia, especially after heavyweights Germany, Brazil and Argentina all slipped up over the weekend.
Belgium are now unbeaten in 20 matches, although the nature of the firsthalf performance against weak opposition showed that Martinez’s men still have significant progress to make if they are to improve on quarter-final appearances at the last two major tournaments.
To be fair to Martinez, the Spaniard had warned on the eve of this game that his side would not have it easy.
The heat and humidity on Russia’s Black Sea coast was one, as was the fact their supporters greatly outnumbered those following the Belgians.
The locals at the Fisht Stadium got behind the outsiders too, and they were given encouragement as Hernan Dario Gomez’s side competed well in the first period.
Hazard pulled the strings when he could, although the Chelsea star was denied by Penedo in the 38th minute, having earlier found the side-netting when a slack back-pass from opposing captain Roman Torres gifted him the chance.
At the other end, Panama tried to expose Belgium’s potential weaknesses at full-back. However, they struggled to score goals in qualifying and rarely looked capable of beating Thibaut Courtois. Belgium just needed a spark from somewhere, and they got it from Mertens in the 47th minute.
The Napoli man’s cross looking for Lukaku was headed out by Torres and on by Fidel Escobar. But the ball dropped perfectly back to Mertens, whose volley from the right side of the box arced into the far corner.
But the gulf in class began to tell as Belgium doubled their lead midway through the second half. Hazard found De Bruyne, and his sumptuous cross with the outside of the right boot was headed in by Lukaku.
With Panama forced to throw more bodies forward, they were punished on the break a quarter of an hour from the end.
This time Hazard released Lukaku, and the Manchester United man beat Penedo to complete the scoring and take him to five goals at major tournaments, as Belgium get up and running.
A stoppage-time header from twogoal Harry Kane gave England 2-1 win over Tunisia in their opening World Cup Group G match.
A 35th minute Ferjani Sassi penalty had cancelled out Kane’s 11th minute opener.
After the break, England who had wated several good changes in the first half, struggled to break down the deep defending African side.
But from a Kieran Trippier corner, a glancing header from Harry Maguire found Kane at the back post and he nodded home to give England a winning start.
SAINT PETERSBURG, June 18, (Agencies): Battered and bruised by a barrage of Swiss fouls, Neymar hobbled out of the Rostov Arena after failing to inspire Brazil to victory in their World Cup opener.
The world’s most expensive player said his latest knock is “nothing to worry about” but there is concern over whether he can perform to the levels needed to lead his country to a sixth World Cup title after four months out of competitive football. Neymar’s club season with Paris Saint-Germain ended when he broke a bone in his foot in February. To the frustration of many in the French capital, he spent much of his recovery time back in Brazil with the intention of getting in the best shape possible for a potentially career-defining tournament.
A stunning individual run and finish on his return in a pre-tournament friendly against Croatia and his 55th international goal against Austria a week later appeared to ease fears over his fitness.
But as many of the fancied teams at the World Cup have found so far in Russia, friendly performances mean little when the competition kicks off for real and Brazil were found wanting against an aggressive and well-organised Swiss side.
Neymar was fouled 10 times, more than any player in a single World Cup match since Alan Shearer 20 years ago, and provoked Switzerland’s three yellow cards for Stephan Lichtsteiner, Fabian Schaer and Valon Behrami.
Mexican referee Cesar Ramos’ handling of the Swiss tactics divided opinion among fans and commentators as some called for greater protection for one of the world’s best players, while many believed Neymar was too quick to go to ground.
“I was a little bit worried about the referee,” said Arsenal full-back Lichtsteiner.
“Every time they fell down it was a whistle, a foul. This was a bit of a challenge. You think ‘don’t be too aggressive’ because every time they go down it’s a foul.”
Given the success of Switzerland’s rugged approach, Neymar can expect more of the same against Costa Rica and Serbia, with the pressure on Brazil to rediscover the form they showed in qualifying.
Brazil’s transformation in two years under coach Tite has been characterised by the speed of their transitions from defence to attack as Neymar combined to great effect with Gabriel Jesus and Philippe Coutinho.
Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic said his team deserved more recognition after they held five-times champions Brazil to a 1-1 draw in their opening World Cup match on Sunday.
“I hope they start looking up and taking notice of us and taking us seriously,” said Petkovic, whose side held Spain to the same score in a warm-up friendly.
“Sometimes, there is a lack of recognition and that is a pity.
“Playing against Brazil and Spain, we demonstrated we could react, that this team always believes in itself and can get results. We will continue to play with this consistency.”
Switzerland have lost only one out of 12 competitive matches since Euro 2016 — a World Cup qualifier away to Portugal. “I hoped that we would do what we didn’t against Portugal, that we would play our game and try to impose our way of playing,” he said.
“I think the team has shown great determination and I’m very, very happy.”
“In the first half we encountered some difficulties, we were not able to put into practice what we wanted, and we invited the opponent to be dangerous,” he said.
“In the second half, I told them to remain calm, focused, believe in ourselves and try and push higher up on the pitch and create possibilities and opportunities to score, and that’s what we did.”
Switzerland now face Serbia and then Costa Rica in Group E after taking a valuable point off the Brazilians.
Petkovic also said there was nothing wrong with Steven Zuber’s equaliser on Sunday despite Brazilian claims that a defender was pushed.