Belgium wakes up, pops Panama
Unlike the other World Cup favorites that struggled through their opening matches, Belgium looked every part the title contender.
Having Dries Mertens and Romelu Lukaku capable of scoring the way they did against Panama helps.
“People know I am supposed to score goals,” Lukaku said. “The most important thing to me is to win matches.”
Lukaku scored twice in a sixminute span in the second half after Mertens’ perfectly struck volley gave Belgium the lead, and the Red Devils beat overmatched Panama, 3-0, yesterday in Group G play in Sochi, Russia.
Saddled with massive expectations and a lineup of talent the envy of other teams in the tournament, Belgium showed flashes of being a team worthy of title consideration.
A shaky first-half performance by Belgium was replaced by a confident, attacking group in the second that was finally able to find gaps in Panama’s defense and convert those chances into goals.
“In the World Cup you have to play 90 minutes. You have to be aware that in any game you go into, if you don’t score early on, you have to be prepared to work hard and go through periods in which you are tested,” Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said.
The two goals from Lukaku came shortly after Mertens scored from about 18 yards in the opening moments of the second half, finally relieving some pressure after Belgium was unable to break down Panama for the first 45 minutes.
Lukaku’s first goal came 20 minutes later, but the pass from Kevin De Bruyne made it possible. Rather than shooting through a crowd of Panama defenders, De Bruyne cut a pass with the outside of his right foot onto Lukaku’s head and into the net.
Lukaku added a second on a breakaway minutes later, chipping by Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo as he left his net.
“For me it’s important to have the right line in the box,” Lukaku said. “Usually I’m in the right position at the right time.”
Belgium is now unbeaten in its last six World Cup openers, dating back to a 1986 loss to Mexico in the opener.
Panama was unable to duplicate what Senegal accomplished in 2002 as the last team to win in its World Cup debut. The Central Americans played their style — physical, aggressive, sometimes looking more like wrestling than soccer — and managed to hang with the Red Devils for more than an hour. But they never created threatening scoring chances — Panama scored only nine goals in 10 World Cup qualifying matches — and eventually Belgium finished its opportunities.
Sweden 1, South Korea 0 — Another video review led to a penalty at the World Cup, this time helping Sweden beat South Korea in Group F in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
Sweden captain Andreas Granqvist converted from the spot, sliding his shot into the bottom right corner in the 65th minute.
Referee Joel Aguilar used the replay technology to decide whether South Korea substitute Kim Min-woo had fouled Viktor Claesson in the area after initially waving play on. Kim had tripped Claesson, though, and the converted penalty was enough to give Sweden its first World Cup victory since 2006.
Before the penalty, Sweden controlled the game and showed most of the attacking intent.
South Korea had a chance to level in injury time but Hwang Hee-chan put a header wide from in front of goal.