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| June 15, 2002 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1423 |
Belgium forge ahead by skin of their teeth
SHIZUOKA (Japan), June 14: Belgium scored twice in the last 12 minutes to seal a thrilling 3-2 victory over Russia on Friday and a place in the World Cup’s second round.
Vladimir Beschastnykh’s second-half equaliser looked to have earned Russia a place in the last 16 but strikes by substitute Wesley Sonck and captain Marc Wilmots put Belgium 3-1 up and on course for a last 16 clash with Brazil.
Russia refused to lie down, however, and substitute Dmitry Sychev’s 88th minute goal gave them hope of snatching the draw they needed to progress before the final whistle brought an end to Belgium’s five-match streak of World Cup finals draws.
Belgium finished runners-up in group H on five points, two behind Japan and two ahead of the Russians who failed to qualify for the second round for their third straight World Cup.
Belgium’s under-fire coach Robert Waseige was delighted with his team’s resilience and hit back at his recent critics.
“I am very happy of course,” Waseige said. “We have had a lot of critics, particularly at home, so we are really happy to have won this match and to reach the next round.
“It’s a great honour to meet the eternal Brazil. I feel a great pride ahead of this match, for any team playing Brazil is a great reward in itself. We will have to be at the top of our form.”
Belgium started brightly knowing they needed a victory to keep alive their hopes of progressing and fully merited their lead when Johan Walem superbly curled a free kick into the top corner from 25 metres.
Mbo Mpenza and Gert Verheyen, twice, had excellent chances to increase their lead in the opening period against a misfiring Russian team.
Russia, with unfit playmaker Alexander Mostovoi again on the substitutes’ bench, looked devoid of attacking menace in a terrible first-half display.
Coach Oleg Romantsev, his job on the line, lost patience after 34 minutes and brought on 18-year-old striker Sychev, but Russia suffered another blow before the interval when central defender Yuri Nikiforov had to come off with a calf injury.
Sychev’s arrival on the pitch had sparked Russia to their 2-0 victory over Tunisia and they looked a little better at the start of the second period. But their goal came out of nothing.
Dmitry Khokhlov loped forward and found Sychev streaking clear. When his shot was saved, Beschastnykh gleefully snapped up the rebound.
Stung by the goal, Belgium desperately poured forward in search of a winner but Russian central defender Viktor Onopko, winning his 100th cap, kept their rearguard well protected until the unmarked Sonck powered in a header eight minutes after coming on the pitch.
Wilmots scored with a deflected shot four minutes later to give the Belgians some breathing space but Sychev drove home a through ball from Alexander Kerzhakov to ensure a dramatic finale in over four minutes of injury-time.
“Frankly, Belgium were the better team today,” said Russian assistant coach Sergei Pavlov. “We did not have much luck in the match. A number of our players played at their best but generally we did not perform well enough.”—Reuters
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