Belgium bests England
In a match neither team had to win, Belgium came out on top and took first place in its World Cup group with a 1-0 victory over England on Thursday. Colombia and Japan advanced to the round of 16.
— England barely seemed troubled by losing. Belgium appeared to be a reluctant winner.
Such was the curious conclusion to the group stage at the World Cup on Thursday. Neither team needed to win and there was good reason for neither to even want to win.
Belgium did collect the three points, beating England 1-0, and secured first place in the group on Adnan Januzaj’s curling shot. But that might not turn out to be the desirable outcome since the victory diverted Belgium onto the tougher potential path to the final.
Although Belgium gets what appears to be an easier match against Japan in the round of 16, it could get trickier with a victory in Rostov-on-Don on Monday. Brazil, Portugal, France and Argentina are possible future opponents.
“I don’t think you can plan the ideal scenario,” Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said. “You have seen big nations coming very close to elimination, or already eliminated.”
Thanks to a pair of opening victories for both, England and Belgium entered the Group G match knowing they were already in the second round. Belgium made nine changes and still won. England lost the top spot after dropping Harry Kane, the tournament’s leading scorer, and seven others.
England coach Gareth Southgate could barely contain his delight in finding himself on the less challenging side of the draw. His team will face Colombia on Tuesday in Moscow, followed by possible matchups against Spain, Russia, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.
“We don’t suffer for (the loss),” Southgate said. “When you are a leader and a manager you have to make decisions that are right for your group and your primary objectives. Sometimes those decisions will be criticized ... but you have to think about the bigger picture.”
Poland 1, Japan 0
Nice guys don’t necessarily finish last at the World Cup. Fair play, a newly implemented tiebreaker in the group stage of the world’s biggest soccer tournament, was put into use for the first time and Japan came out as the beneficiary. Despite losing 1-0 to Poland, the Japanese were able to advance a round of 16 match against Belgium because they received fewer yellow cards than Senegal, which lost to Colombia by the same score at the same time.
Tunisia 2, Panama 1
Tunisia captain Wahbi Khazri set up a secondhalf goal and then scored one of his own to help his side secure its first victory in a World Cup in four decades. The striker’s hard, rising shot in the 66th minute lifted Tunisia to a 2-1 triumph over Panama. It came 15 minutes after Khazri’s pinpoint square pass produced Fakhreddine Ben Youssef’s equalizer.
Colombia 1, Senegal 0
Yerry Mina scored on a header in the 74th minute and Colombia defeated Senegal to advance to the World Cup knockout stage. Senegal became the first team ever eliminated by a new tiebreaker — number of yellow cards. Poland defeated Japan 1-0 in the other group match. Japan and Senegal were tied on all tiebreakers except “fair play points,” based on yellow and red cards. Japan had four yellow cards, Senegal had six. Colombia finished atop its group and is the fourth South American team to advance.