Belgium beat England 2-0 to win third place in Fifa World Cup 2018

Meunier scored from a Chadli assist in the fourth minute to give an early lead to Belgium against England as the two teams look to secure the third spot in the Fifa World Cup 2018

Belgium have won the 3rd place in Fifa World Cup 2018 after beating England 2-0. Goals from Meunier and Eden Hazard help Belgium cruise past England. Belgium played the match in the front foot starting from the kick-off whistle. England could not find the rhythm even though they had some chances.

Match analysis: England vs Belgium

The second last match of the World Cup 2018 is over. Belgium's Thomas Meunier goal in the fourth-minute hands Belgium third place at the 2018 World Cup. This is Belgium's best-ever finish at the tournament. England finishes fourth and was far from impressive today. Eric Dier and Harry Kane came closest to scoring but was denied a consolation goal from the Belgium defenders. The Three Lions lacked any substantial battle in the final third.

They were better since they restarted in the second half.  Belgium has taken the Bronze and looking at their performance they deserved more.

Both England and Belgium will return home from Russia with their exalted confidence after some memorable performances in Russia. Both the countries have the opportunity to build upon ahead of the next World Cup in Qatar. 

Hazard doubles the lead

Live commentary: England vs Belgium

Minute 90 -- Belgium have won the match and confirm their 3rd place in Fifa World Cup.

Minute 82 --  Hazard scores a brilliant goal

Minute 77 -- Tielemans substituted out for Dembele.

Minute 77-- Maguire is shown a yellow.

Minute 69 -- WHAT A SAVE!!Dier takes out the Belgian defence with the help of a one-two and chips the onrushing Courtois. The ball looks set to go beyond the goalline but Alderweireld slides it to kick it away.

Minute 60 -- Substitution for Belgium: Lukaku out, Mertens in

Minute 55-- The heavy boots of Lukaku tonight!! De Bryune again puts in a peach of a pass for Lukaku who runs between the lines to get the end of the pass but his first-touch is again too heavy and that lets him down.

Minute 54 -- Lingard puts a delicious cross in the box and Kane tracks it, slides in but is a boot too short.

Minute 51 -- Stones is booked for a foul on Hazard.

Minute 49 -- England get a free-kick and trippier delivers an out swinging goal and Stones tries to get at the end of it but the Belgian defence puts it out for corner. The corner is straight at Courtois' hand.

Minute 48 - Hazard goes on a zig-zag run and puts on an exhibition of his dribbling skills as he dribbles past Stones then goes past Delph but can't go any further.

Minute 46 -- Loftus-Cheek runs down the right wing, again. He dribbles past Vermaelen but tries to take on players one too many and is dealt with by Kompany.

Double substitutions at half-time for England: Rashford on for Rose, 

Lingard in for Sterling 

Second half begins.

Half-time report: A sliding goal from Thomas Meunier is the only difference in the match between Belgium and England for the third place in the Fifa World Cup 2018. Both teh teams have lacked sharpness in the attacking third with big names Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane missing glorious chances at either ends. The two teams have been knocking at each others'door but it was Belgium that gave themselves a lead with a goal by Meunier early on in the fourth minute after getting at the end of a cross by Chadli thus becoming the 10th player to score for Belgium at the World Cup. He has also equalled the all-time record held by France in 1982 & Italy in 2006.
 

Minute 45 -- A beautifully lofted pass means Lukaku's one on one with Stones who does wonderfully to block the Belgian's shot.

Minute 41 -- England continue to recycle possession around the midfield areas of the pitch, with Kane and Sterling having very limited service.

Minute 38 -- Substitution! Vermaelen on for Chadli

Minute 38-- Another Belgium counter-attack. As the attack reaches the box, De Bruyne puts in a cross towards Lukaku but Trippier jumps and tips it over for corner before the delivery can reach Lukaku.

Minute 33 -- Belgium have been patiently building up for a long long time now. This time though De Bryune drives forward and slips in a pass for Hazard just outside the box. The Belgian captain fancies a shot but it's blocked by Stones and out for corner. From the corner, De Bruyne blasts a low ball to the edge of the area that Tielemans does not strike cleanly but Alderweireld acrobatically tries to volley home, narrowly firing over.

Minute 27 -- Meunier does brilliantly to dispossess Rose who was too late near the right-back corner. Meunier then puts in a cross for Lukaku in the centre with Pickford nowhere in the sight, but the cross isn't accurate and England survive.

Minute 23 -- Dier curls a lovely pass to Sterling inside the box who controls it majestically and puts the ball on a platter for Harry Kane only for the top-scorer of this World Cup to blast it wide of the target from almost 20 yards out.

Minute 19 -- England's Loftus-Cheek goes on a dangerous run from midfield to inside the Belgian box only for Kompany to clear his low ball out for England's first corner of the game.

Minute 16 -- A touch too heavy for the big man Lukaku! De Bruyne put a lovely ball through for Lukaku who is under pressure from Maguire and puts a rather heavy touch to the ball that's lapped up by Pickford before Lukaku can do any further damage.

Minute 11 -- Pickford to the rescue!! Belgium start a counter-attack with Hazard who makes a pinpoint pass to Lukaku. The striker then spots De Bruyne on the left. His pass is intercepted but still falls to De Bruyne who cracks a shot that's deflected off an English defender but parried by Pickford before it's cleared.

Minute 8 -- Harry Kane is bundled and England get a free-kick but nothing comes of it.

Minute 8 -- Delph is dispossessed in the middle of the park and Tielemans passes it to Lukaku who plays the ball to De Bruyne on the inside right. The Manchester City player tries a fancy back-heel but it doesn't come through.

Minute 4 (GOAL!!) -- Early breakthrough for Belgium!! Lukaku slides a long pass from the centre to Chadli on the left side who whips a low cross into the middle and Meunier pokes the pass home!

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppp! And.. we begin!!

Confirmed teams - 

Belgium: Courtois; Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen; Meunier, Tielemans, Witsel, Chadli; De Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard

Subs: Mignolet, Casteels, Vermaelen, Boyata, Dendoncker, Fellaini, Dembélé, Carrasco, T. Hazard, Mertens, Januzaj, Batshuayi

England: Pickford; Stones, Jones, Maguire; Trippier, Dier, Delph, Loftus-Cheek, Rose; Sterling, Kane

Subs: Walker, Lingard, Henderson, Vardy, Buland, Welbeck, Cahill, Young, Rashford, Alli, Alexander-Arnold, Pope

Referee: A Faghani (Ira)

Match Preview: England vs Belgium

Both sides suffered defeat in the semi-finals earlier in the week. Belgium were 1-0 losers to France in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, while England were unable to make their early lead count against Croatia in Moscow on Wednesday and lost 1-2 to finalists Croatia after extra time.

England manager Gareth Southgate has admitted the play-off is a game that no team wants to play, but he also said the match against Belgium offers the Brits the chance to finish the tournament on a winning note. The win can also give England their best finish since they won the competition in 1966. 

All 23 players in the English squad are fit and involved in training today, allaying fears Kieran Trippier had sustained a groin injury which would rule him out of the match.

For Belgium, Thomas Meunier will be back into the team and has already stressed the importance of finishing third for the first time in their history. With plenty of English connections with the side, the Red Devils will be keen to surf on their psychological edge after earning their first win over the Three Lions in 82 years a fortnight ago.

For Belgium, who have a collection of world class players, a win would be the nation's best result at the World Cup. They finished fourth in 1986.

A sub-plot to the third place tie is the race to be the top-scorer in the tourney. England skipper Harry Kane is atop the charts with six goals to his name but Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku is just two goals behind him in the race for the Golden Boot. With one more goal Kane would become the highest scorer in the World Cup since 2002, when Brazil's Ronaldo struck eight times, including twice in the final, as the South American heavyweights bagged a record fifth title. The Tottenham Hotspur star forward would be just the second England player to scoop the award, after Gary Lineker was the top scorer in 1986.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

LAST MEETING: Belgium edged England in Kaliningrad to win Group G, with Adnan Januzaj scoring a fine goal for the Red Devils in 28 June.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Apart from their earlier encounter in the current event, England and Belgium have faced off twice before at the FIFA World Cup: a pulsating 4-4 draw at Switzerland 1954 was followed 36 years later by a Round of 16 encounter at Italy 1990, which was decided by a fine goal by England's David Platt in extra time (below).

Throughout history, Belgium and England have played each other 22 times. The Three Lions have been the dominant performers with 15 wins, five draws and two losses. Belgium won the most recent meeting between the two sides in the group stages at Russia 2018.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TEAM SPEAK:
 

FIFA World Cup 2018: England football team (Photo: @dele_official)

ENGLAND - England manager Gareth Southgate has admitted that the third place play-offs isn't an ideal game from a player's point of view.

"The honest thing is, it's not a game any team wants to play in," said Southgate. However, he insisted that will not alter England's approach as they look to achieve their best finish since they won the competition in 1966.

"We'll want to give a performance of huge pride, there's no question about that," said Southgate.

"We feel we owe it as much to ourselves as our public to finish well, we want to finish the tournament well. We've set a high standard and we want t keep those standards right to the end."

Harry Kane said he was proud of England's performance in the ongoing tournament despite the heart-breaking loss against the Croatia.

"It’s been an amazing experience, I said before the tournament every player in the team is a winner but to win every game - it’s not always possible in sport. We’ve done extremely well—a lot better than people thought we would, and while it hurts now and will hurt for awhile, we can hold our heads high and be proud," he said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

Belgium National team

BELGIUM -- Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has praised his players for their efforts in the current edition of the World Cup and said they deserve to finish on a high.

"We want to finish on a high and these players deserve to finish on a high..You need to try to see the opportunity of finishing third at the World Cup. That doesn't happen too often, so we need to understand that this is an important game," the Spaniard said.

"But I would accept it is very difficult when you had the ambition of getting to the final. It's very difficult to prepare for the next game," Martinez said. 

Roberto Martinez said his team has changed Belgium's mentality, and that has been thieir legacy.
 

"We will leave a real legacy for Belgium, playing all together and having a winning mindset. We have changed the mentality," Martinez said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS:
 

Belgium: Thibaut Courtois; Jan Vertonghen, Vincent Kompany, Toby Alderweireld; Axel Witsel, Kevin De Bruyne, Nacer Chadli, Thomas Meunier; Marouane Fellaini, Eden Hazard; Romelu Lukaku

England: Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Fabian Delph; Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

BELGIUM VS ENGLAND: WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH

Time: 7:30 PM (IST)

In today's Group F match, Belgium vs England match will take place in St. Petersburg on Saturday, July 14, 2018, at 7:30 PM (IST). Iranian referee Alireza Faghani will watch over the proccedings.

Belgium vs England match will be broadcast on Sony Ten 2, Sony Ten 2 HD, Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD in English Commentary and Sony Ten 3 and Sony 3 HD in Hindi Commentary.

Belgium vs England match will be available for live streaming on Sony Liv also. And Both Airtel and Jio would broadcast the FIFA World Cup 2018 matches for free to their respective subscribers. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

TRIVIA: 
 

-- For the record, European teams have claimed the third place in the past nine World Cups.

-- One more goal in the match against Belgium, and Harry Kane will be the highest scorer at a single World Cup since 2002: with a hat-trick, he would become the highest scorer since 1970.

-- Belgium will play for the opportunity to finish third for the first time in its history.
 

-- Both teams emerged empty-handed from their last third place playoffs at the tournament. In 1986, Belgium took France to extra time but were eventually beaten 4-2 (below), while England succumbed in normal time to Italy at the 1990 event.
 

-- The other two times Belgium and England met at the World Cup finals (1954 and 1990), the match had to be decided after extra time. The most recent of those meetings was in the Round of 16 in 1990 when England's David Platt scored in the 119th minute to clinch a 1-0 victory for the Three Lions.
 

-- At the 2018 World Cup, Belgium became the first team to win a match against opponents from five different confederations in a single edition of the tournament: versus Panama (CONCACAF), Tunisia (CAF), England (UEFA), Japan (AFC) and Brazil (CONMEBOL).

-- Belgium have yet to keep a clean sheet in their 14 World Cup knockout games, with 30 goals conceded in total. It's the longest such run in the tournament's history

-- Only Belgium (14) have scored more goals at Russia 2018 than England’s 12 – Croatia have also scored 12.

-- In the 62 games played so far at Russia 2018, 68 goals have been scored from set-piece situations, establishing a new World Cup record. We take a closer look at this latest trend.
 

-- In the 2014 World Cup, Robin van Persie, Daley Blind and Georginio Wijnaldum struck the goals in Brasilia, as the Netherlands secured third place with a 3-0 victory over hosts Brazil.