Belgium showed England, their main rivals in Group G, the way with a comfortable 3-0 win against Panama in Sochi as Dries Mertens scored just after half-time before Lukaku headed in on 69 minutes and pounced again six minutes later.
Belgium showed they might finally be ready to realise the promise of a talented crop of players as they gave Panama a torrid time in the Central American side’s first-ever appearance in a World Cup finals.
Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said he was “delighted” with the performance.
“It was exactly what we expected — there are no easy games at the World Cup. We started very well but then became frustrated as the first half wore on,” he said.
In Monday’s early game, Sweden — now without retired superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic — beat South Korea 1-0 in Nizhny Novgorod to go joint top of Germany’s group alongside Mexico thanks to a penalty awarded by VAR (Video Assistant Referee.
Veteran Swedish skipper Andreas Granqvist scored the only goal of the game from the spot after Viktor Claesson was upended by South Korean substitute Kim Min-woo midway through the second half.
Despite furious appeals, El Salvadorean referee Joel Aguilar initially waved away Swedish penalty claims but after consulting the video, he pointed to the spot.
Reigning champions Germany are licking their wounds after slumping 1-0 to a Hirving Lozano strike in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday — the first time they have lost their opening game of a World Cup since 1982.
“I have not seen the German team so weak at a big tournament for a long time,” said West Germany’s 1990 World Cup-winning captain Lothar Matthaeus.
“Almost everything was missing. There were concentration errors, unnecessary bad passes and also the attitude was not there.”
(AFP)
