With a flair for the dramatic
Down 2-0 late, Belgium scores 3 goals to win
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — Jan Vertonghen started Belgium’s comeback with a wild, looping header and Nacer Chadli capped it by finishing off a 10-second, end-to-end attack in the final moments.
It added up to a 3-2 victory over Japan on Monday that gave the Belgians a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals for the second straight tournament.
Trailing 2-0, Vertonghen scored with a header in the 69th minute that appeared to be a cross but somehow dropped in under the bar. Substitute Marouane Fellaini headed in another from Eden Hazard’s cross in the 74th.
Chadli, who came on as a substitute in the 65th, decided it with virtually the last kick of the game in the fourth minute of injury time.
Belgium goalkeeper Thibault Courtois grabbed a corner kick and rolled the ball to Kevin De Bruyne, who dribbled to the top of the center circle and passed to Thomas Meunier on the right. Meunier one-timed the ball across the area and Romelu Lukaku let it roll by for Chadli to tap in with his left foot from 7 yards.
Belgium is the first team to overturn a two-goal deficit in a World Cup knockout match since West Germany beat England in extra time at the 1970 tournament. The last team to do it in regulation was when Portugal beat North Korea in the 1966 quarterfinals.
“It’s a test of character. It’s a test of the team,” Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said. “You have to see how the substitutes react, how the whole team reacts.”
Belgium will next face five-time champion Brazil in the quarterfinals on Friday in Kazan.
Japan led through early second-half goals by Genki Haraguchi and Takashi Inui, but they couldn’t hold on.
“When we were up 2-0, I really wanted to score another goal and we did have opportunities,” Japan coach Akira Nishino said. “We were to some extent controlling the game, but Belgium upped their game when they had to.”
What was expected to be a mismatch ended up being a classic, partly because of Martinez’s decisions to send on Fellaini and Chadli as substitutes in the 65th minute.
“In football, sometimes you want to be perfect,” Martinez said.
“In the World Cup and especially in the knockout stage, it’s about getting through.”
Belgium, which narrowly avoided joining Germany, Argentina, Spain and Portugal as big-name eliminations, won all three of its group matches and scored a tournament-leading nine goals at that stage.
Japan narrowly scraped through, advancing ahead of Senegal because it had fewer yellow cards.
The Japanese have now lost in the round of 16 three times without ever reaching the quarterfinals.
Four Japanese players fell on their knees in despair after the final whistle. Hiroki Sakai and Gen Shoji were in tears.
“It wasn’t the players,” Nishino said. “Maybe it was me who lost control of the game.”
Belgium extended its unbeaten run to 22 games.
The Red Devils have not been beaten since a 2-0 loss to Spain in a friendly in September 2016. The last in a competitive match was in the game before that: a 3-1 loss to Wales in the quarterfinals of the 2016 European Championship.
Belgium has scored 74 goals during its unbeaten run, netting in every game except a 0-0 draw against European champion Portugal in a friendly last month. Brazil 2, Mexico 0: Neymar flaunted his flair and his theatrics with a goal and an assist to lead Brazil into the quarterfinals with a victory in Samara.
The world’s most expensive player put Brazil in the lead after his back-heel released Willian, who then sent the ball into the penalty area. Neymar slid in to tap in the opener in the 51st minute.
Neymar then showed his unselfish side, crossing for Robert Firmino to score in the 88th minute. Neymar has 11 goals and nine assists in his last 19 games for Brazil.
It looked like Neymar’s game — or even his World Cup — could be over with 20 minutes to go. It turned out to be pure histrionics. Writhing in agony after his right ankle was stepped on by Miguel Layun, Neymar managed to get back on his feet. But not before trying a stamp on Layun himself.
Both escaped punishment.
The five-time World Cup champions will compete in their seventh straight quarterfinal match, the stage they have reached at every World Cup since 1994.
Not so for the Mexicans, who have lost in the round of 16 seven straight times.
The “quinto partido” curse goes on.
Mexico last made it to the quarterfinals 1986, when the nation hosted the World Cup.
El Tri did make history in Russia, beating defending champion Germany 1-0 in the group opener.
It was Mexico’s first victory over the Germans in a competitive match — and first in any game since 1985. The loss would later figure in Germany’s elimination in Russia.