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If you were wondering why the smaller teams park the bus against the fancier opponents and try to defend instead of attacking in waves, here is your answer. In one of the best games of the World Cup so far, Belgium blew past a wounded Tunisia in their Group G game.
Hazard's penalty in the 6th minute opened the floodgates, and Lukaku scored twice – one with either feet - in the first half to take the game away from Tunisia. Tunisia, probably annoyed that their defensive tactic against England did not yield the necessary effort, where just as attacking as their opponents but only without the end product.
The second half played out in the same manner as the first, with Hazard scoring early on to suck what little air remained with Tunisia, and then Batshuayi finished things off a with a late goal to get the goal he had so badly tried for.
As always there were a few individual battles that went a long way in deciding the final outcome of the game. Here’s a look at 3 of them:
#3 Eden Hazard vs Tunisia
Chelsea fans have been swearing upon their mothers that Eden Hazard is the best player in the world on his day (a minimum of top 3), and for too long everyone has called them delusional. To those cynics, this match must have been a harsh wake-up call.
Hazard might have stayed on the field only for 68 minutes, but that was more than enough to show to the world just how good it is if the system plays to his strengths. Antonio Conte, I hope you are reading this.
After a foul at the edge of the box which was rightly awarded as a penalty, Hazard dispatched the resulting penalty in characteristic cool fashion, but the second goal was where it was really at. After a brilliant lob from De Bruyne, Hazard collected it, rounded the keeper and hit it into the open net to finish off a job well done.
4 goals, of which 3 were on target, 5 dribbles past the Tunisian team, 47 touches and 3 key passes were the statistics of his game, but none of that really mattered today. It was just sheer joy from watching someone great at what they do.
Maybe Tunisia could have stopped him if they come out with a strategy similar to the one against England, but it all made up for a great watching. Martinez rightly took him off to save him for England, and if he plays at the same level, it will be over before the English midfielders know what hit them.
#2 Romelu Lukaku vs Yassine Meriah
Another game and another two goals for the big Belgian. There is not really standing in your way when you have Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne orchestrating things around you, but take nothing away from Lukaku.
The first goal came off the simplest of passes from Mertens, and Lukaku calmly put it past the goalkeeper after Tunisia had committed too many men forward. The second was just as good, and just as simple with Meunier setting him up this time, after the Tunisian defenders had dozed off close to half-time.
Yassine Meriah couldn't really do much to stop Lukaku. If the battle had taken place in the air, it might have been too close but anticipating that, Belgium decided to attack the team with ground passes and it worked out well.
To his credit, Meriah prevented Batshuayi from scoring after rounding the keeper (yet again) with a clearance off the line, but at that point, the damage had already been done. Once again, Lukaku was taken away cleverly by Martinez to protect him for the England game.
#1 Kevin De Bruyne vs Tunisia
You want to know how good De Bruyne is? Michy Batshuayi, who came on in the 70th minute, could have scored a hat-trick simply because of De Bruyne. In the end, he did get a goal (not from De Bruyne though) but everything that happened for Belgium, it started with the Manchester City midfield as its beginning.
Like Hazard, De Bruyne could have been handled a lot better if Tunisia had decided to properly mark him with a multitude of players, but they chose not to and paid the price for that. With 35 accurate passes and 4 of them considered key passes, 2 dribbles and 54 touches on the ball, De Bruyne was the hero who stayed away from the limelight.
Unlike the other two, De Bruyne was not protected by Martinez but it might have been because the coach thought he was capable of playing all the minutes without a break - which is true because he is not as high-intensity on the ball as the other two.
Everything said and done, these three will once again be the most important against England. If England choose to go the Tunisia route instead of playing with a proper action plan, God save the queen indeed!
