Belgium’s late heroics stun Japan in thriller

Blue Samurai shocked as Chadli seals comeback with stoppage-time winner

Belgium dramatically recovered from going two goals down to Japan last night to secure a last-gasp 3-2 victory and set up a World Cup quarter-final against Brazil.

Roberto Martinez’s side came so close to crashing out of the tournament in Rostov as they found themselves behind to second-half goals from Genki Haraguchi and Takashi Inui.

The so-called Belgian ‘Golden Generation’ then staged a remarkable comeback, responding with goals from Jan Vertonghen, Marouane Fellaini and, in added time, Nacer Chadli to demonstrate the extent of their significant attacking threat.

Japan were stretched throughout a first half in which they were often defending, which did little to build confidence in their chances of resisting throughout the second, even if they almost took an undeserved lead on the stroke of half-time.

When Thibaut Courtois casually spilt a routine ball between his legs it was heading for the back of the net until he reacted and dived to recover, but even then Japan would have been happy it remained goalless when the whistle blew to conclude the opening 45 minutes.

If concerns had persisted that Belgium’s wastefulness would cost them they proved correct only three minutes into the second half when they fell a goal down.

A swift counter-attack led to Haraguchi being sent through one-onone with Courtois, after Vertonghen failed to cut out Gaku Shibasaki’s through-ball, and he calmly finished first time into the far left corner.

Eden Hazard almost instantly equalised when his curling shot hit a post, but Japan instead doubled their lead in the 52nd minute when, from the edge of the

AP. Marouane Fellaini heads home Belgium’s equaliser.

Yuto Nagatomo is distraught as the fulltime whistle blows.