Belgium remains the leader of Group F qualifying for the 2024 Euro Cup, tied on points with Austria, after comfortably defeating Estonia (5-0) with goals frome Jan Vertonghen, Leandro Trossad, Charles de Katelaere and a double from Romelu Lukaku.
The Red Devils have accumulated 13 points, the same as Austria, who won tonight 3-1 in its visit to Sweden, third in the table with 6 points and ahead of Estonia (1) and Azerbaijan (1).
Belgium, led from March by the Italian-German coach Domenico Tedesco, They dominated the Baltics from start to finish, giving the ball away, not having a single shot on goal and faltering in defense from set pieces, static attacks and on the counter.
The first goal of the night came quickly and was full of symbolism, thanks to center back Jan Vertonghen, who headed in a corner taken by Yannick Carrasco in the 3rd minute and scored his tenth goal for the national team.
The Anderlecht defender, 36 years old and established as the Belgian footballer who wore the national jersey the most times, reached 150 international matches, thus entering a club where players like Cristiano Ronaldo (201), Sergio Ramos (180) appears. , Lionel Messi or Gianluigi Bufon (176), Luka Modric and Iker Casillas (167) or Lothar Mathaus (150), among others.
The second didn’t last long. In the 17th minute, Trossard received the ball from Romelu Lukaku in the semi-circle of the area and ran parallel to the tight Baltic defense until he found a space to beat Karl Jakob Hein with a cross shot.
Belgium, coming off a rough 0-1 victory in a potato field in Azerbaijan, began to recognize and like itself on the manicured turf of King Baudouin of Brussels, showing happy football despite the absence due to damage of two of his great. references: his usual captain, Kevin de Bruyne, and his starting goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois.
It is intuited that the night could end in a failure in front of a dedicated audience, like the 8-1 2016 qualifier for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as well as in Brussels and against Estonia, with a favorable score, the -class in the face and players from the likes of Yannick Carrasco, Romelu Lukaku and Jérémy Doku caressing the goal.
In the second period, the Estonia of Swiss coach Thomas Häberli showed more cracks while Belgium continued to enjoy themselves.
And then came Romelu Lukaku, scoring a double within two minutes, first with a low shot to finish off a counterattack and then with a mid-range shot after receiving his back in the area, destroying any long-range effort. -hope of return for Estonians.
With his duty fulfilled, Lukaku headed to the locker room, handed over his place to Lois Openda and handed the captain’s armband to the illustrious veteran Vertonghen, as the Red Devils tried to take advantage of the last half hour to go up.
They achieved it shortly before the final whistle, when midfielder Charles de Katelaere put the fifth on the scoreboard with an elegant technical goal in which he was assisted by an electric and technically brilliant Doku on 90 minutes.
Data sheet:
Belgium: Cohen Castels; Timothy Castagne (Hugo Sique, m.66), Wout Faes, Jan Vertonghen (Zeno Debast, m.84), Arthur Theate, Amadou Onana, Orel Mangala, Yannick Carrasco (Dodi Lukebakio, m.60), Jérémy Doku, Romelu Lukaku (Lois Openda, m.61) and Leandro Trossard (Charles de Katelaere, m.66).
Estonia: Karl Jakob Hein; Karol Mets, Joonas Tamm, Nikita Baranov; Artur Pikk, Markus Poom (Rocco Robert Shein, m.46), Mattias Käit (Martin Miller, m.76), Maksim Paskotsi; Henrik Ojamaa (Vlasiy Sinyavskiy, m.61), Henri Anier (Sergei Zenjov, m.67) and Konstantin Vassiljev (Georgi Tunjov, m.61).
The objectives: 1-0, min.3: Jan Vertonghen; 2-0, m. 17: Leandro Trossard; 3-0: Romelu Lukaku (m.56); 4-0: Romelu Lukaku (m.58); 5-0: Charles de Katelaere (m.88).
Referee: Bartosz Frankowski (POL) He warned the Estonian Karol Mets (m.41) and the local Charles de Katelaere (m.70).
Incidents: Qualifying match for the German Euro 2024 Championship played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. The Belgian team sang for the first time a version of the national anthem in the country’s three official languages (French, Dutch and German) in a match led by King Philippe and Crown Princess Elizabeth of Brabant. Before the opening whistle, a moment of silence was observed in memory of the more than two thousand victims of the earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
