Belgium cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over England to finish third at the 2018 Fifa World Cup tournament.
Defender Thomas Munier scored early on and captain Eden Hazard added a second late on to give the Belgians their best ever World Cup finish.
The third/place playoff has never been the most popular game at the finals seeing as how losing semi finalists have to muster up enthusiasm to compete in it but it remains a chance to go home with a medal and for Belgium, they were looking for their best ever WC finish.
England also wanted to put a bow on an unexpected tournament run which had taken them to the semi finals and sparked hopes of ‘football coming home’.
Both teams therefore fielded their strongest line-ups with Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku battling for the top scorer award — Kane with 6 goals and Lukaku on his heels with 4.
It didn’t take long for the game to come to life as Belgium scored on the counter in the 4th minute.
Lukaku picked up the ball in the middle of the park and set up De Bruyne, who freed Chadli down the left and his cross was finished expertly by Munier.
The game truly ebbed and flowed but settled down in the second half as injuries forced both managers into substitutions.
England created chances but Belgium always looked the likelier to score, which occurred in the 82nd minute.
Eden Hazard latched onto De Bruyne’s killer through ball and slotted home past England’s hugely impressive goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Belgium thus record their best ever World Cup position, beating their previous record of 4th from 1986. They also equal France’s 1982 record of one team having 10 different scorers in one tournament.