Hazzard says Belgium needs Lukaku to come up vs Tunisia

After helping his side to a 3-0 triumph over Panama, Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku may have been one of the heroes of the World Cup first round group games but that didn't stop him coming in for criticism from Belgium captain Eden Hazzard.

Hazzard said that Lukaku had been "hiding" in the first half against Panama and in an interview broadcast by Sky Sports on Thursday morning he stood by his original words, reports Xinhua news agency.

"As the captain, I can talk," he explained. "I try to give my best on the pitch and if I can help players be better then I will," continued Hazzard.

"I told Romelu (at halftime) that if we wanted to win the game, we need him, not just to score goals, but for him to be involved in the build up and things like that," he said.

"We talked normally and we won the game and everything was fine," said Hazzard, who also looked ahead to Saturday's second Group G game against a Tunisia side that lost 2-1 to England in their opening match.

"If we beat Tunisia we go through, so we need to give everything against them and then we will play England," commented Hazzard, who was not taking anything for granted.

"You never know what could happen against England, they have good players and they are strong and they can create a lot of chances, so if we beat Tunisia, it will be better for us," he said.

"Every game in the World Cup is very hard to play and we saw how the reigning champions, Germany lost their first game. We know the quality of our team and the importance of playing together. We're not just 11 players on the pitch, we are 23 in the group and we need to be united," he stressed.

--IANS

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