Full time: Belgium 1-1 Greece
Eeh Bel Gium. That’s a frustrating night for Roberto Martinez’s team, and an excellent point for nine-man Greece. They would have won but for Romelu Lukaku’s brilliant late goal. Thanks for your company; night.
90+5 min: Tzavellas sent off for Greece
The game ends with a bit of a rumble involving Lukaku and Tzavellas. Both are booked, which means Tzavellas goes off as it’s his second yellow. Greece are down to nine men. Lukaku then goes looking for trouble with someone else off camera. Tremendous stuff.
90+1 min Kapino makes a great save from Lukaku! Carrasco’s cross from the left was thumped towards goal byu the head of Lukaku on the six-yard line, and Kapino reacted superbly to dive to his left and save. He could only push it onto a defender, and the deflection would have gone in had Kapino not reacted quickly to kick the ball away.
It was a cracking finish by Lukaku. Mertens on the left floated a gentle ball towards him in the box. He had Papastathopoulous at his back but held him off, controlled the ball on his chest and swivelled to whack a volley that bounced through the hands of Kapino. Having done bugger all throughout the match. Lukaku suddenly went into beast mode there.
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GOAL! Belgium 1-1 Greece (Lukaku 89)
Belgium have nicked a point!
86 min Mirallas’s outswinging corner from the right is headed down by Alderweireld. It reaches Vertonghen at the far post, in loads of space, but he can’t control the ball on the stretch and it drifts behind for a goalkick.
85 min “Evening Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “1-0 to Greece. It’s like 2004 all over again. But without The Killers, thankfully.”
Kasabian are still with us though, living the 2004 dream.
84 min Greece kill a bit of time with another substitution: Zeca comes on for his debut, replacing Petros Mantalos.
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83 min Another Belgium change: Ciman off, Kevin Mirallas on. Belgium are now playing a loose-limbed 2-7-1 formation.
82 min Alderweireld’s cutback from the right is only half cleared by the stretching Papastathopoulous. It bounces invitingly on the edge of the box for Witsel, who slashes the ball wide with his left foot. That was an excellent chance.
81 min Greece’s defending has been extremely good. Belgium have had so much of the ball yet Kapino has had few difficult saves to make.
79 min “Inspired by Roberto Martinez,” begins Ian Copestake, “I am following your coverage while listening to some sludge metal and a ditty called No One Deserves Happiness.”
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78 min You do wonder why Belgium didn’t show this much urgency in the first hour of the game.
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76 min “You know this piece of received wisdom about how going a man down only makes it easier on the team that’s under siege because they no longer have to pretend to play football and can just sit back and defend?” says Phil Podolsky. “Well based on my personal observations, sometimes this works and other times it doesn’t!”
74 min Mertens free-kick hits the wall and rebounds to Alderweireld. His low shot deflects across the box and lands perfectly for Mertens, whose close-range shot is blocked by the feet of the outrushing Kapino.
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73 min Witsel is fouled just outside the area by Samaris, who is lucky not to be booked. This is a great opportunity for Belgium...
72 min Witsel is booked for pulling Tzavellas to the ground.
70 min Mertens’ fast low cross towards Lukaku is palmed away by the diving Kapino, after which it deflects off Manolas and behind for a corner. This is Belgium’s best spell of the game in terms of sustained pressure.
69 min Chadli skedaddles round the back to win a corner. Nothing comes of it. Greece’s 10 men haven’t just parked the bus, they’ve removed the wheels as well.
68 min Carrasco tries an optimistic effort from 25 yards that is saved easily by Kapino.
67 min Greece make a change, with Alexandros Tziolis coming on to replace Fortounis, and to drop into the midfield hole vacated by Tachtsidis.
66 min Belgium make a change: Mousa Dembele replaces Marouane Fellaini.
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65 min: Tachtsidis sent off for Greece
Panagiotis Tachtsidis gets a second yellow for a late lunge at Alderweireld. It wasn’t the worst tackle in the world, but it was pretty daft for a player who had already been booked. Greece are down to 10 men.
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63 min Mertens dives on the edge of the box, and is perhaps a bit lucky not to receive a second yellow card. The Greece players certainly think so. Belgium have livened up at least, and Lukaku almost gets through a moment later. The last man Manolas come across to make a crucial interception.
62 min “Flaky?” says Pete Strong. “A Roberto Martinez team? Really?”
60 min Mertens gives Tzavellas’s nose a couple of non-playful tweaks and is booked.
59 min Lukaku’s close-range shot is blocked by the keeper Kapino. Not that it matters; he was offside.
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57 min Belgium have some interesting options on the bench, including the exciting teenager Youri Tielemans and Simon Mignolet.
55 min That’s better from Belgium. Lukaku does superbly to control a long ball forward from Vertonghen, hold off the defender and lay it back to Witsel. He marches onto the ball and spanks a rising drive not far wide from 25 yards.
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54 min Belgium look a bit confused by the scoreline. There does seem to be something exceptionally flaky about them, which is strange given how much their players have achieved at club level.
51 min Alderweireld plays a brilliant through pass to Chadli on the right of the box. Stafylidis stumbles into him from behind but Chadli stays on his feet and eventually wins a corner. Had he gone down Belgium might have been given a penalty.
The goal came out of nothing. Tachtsidis wanted a high ball more than Chadli and headed it forward in the general direction of the penalty area. Mitroglou reacted quicker than Ciman, running in behind him to sweep an emphatic curling half-volley across Courtois and into the far corner.
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GOAL! Belgium 0-1 Greece (Mitroglou 46)
Greece score after 18 seconds of the second half!
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46 min Peep peep! Greece begin the second half, kicking from left to right.
France lead Luxembourg 2-1 at half-time. So far, so what. But just look at the possession stats!
“Is this game rubbish because no one other than tooled-up bum-bag wearers really want to go to Russia?” types Ian Copestake on his iPhone 6, before placing it carefully in his bum bag.
Half-time reading
Half time: Belgium 0-0 Greece
The scoreline flatters both teams. See you in 10 minutes for a second half that cannot fail to be better than the first.
Still, could be worse. “Netherlands down 0-2 away against Bulgaria without any real chances being made,” says Andreas Sjostrom. “Upset on the way.”
43 min Belgium have been strangely lacking in urgency. Only Mertens has consistently got out of first gear.
42 min Tzavellas is booked for fouling Fellaini. This is rubbish.
40 min Fellaini gets his mandatory booking for kicking Mantalos. We’ll miss him when he’s gone.
38 min Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne are having outstanding games.
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36 min Mertens plays an outstanding pass infield to Nainggolan, who controls it excellently on the run while being challenged and then drags a low shot a few yards wide from just outside the box.
34 min Mertens has been lively for Belgium. The rest haven’t. They’ve been pretty disappointing.
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33 min Greece have their longest spell of possession, a minute or so before the ball is given away. They haven’t offered much going forward.
31 min Carrasco’s driven cross from the left is backflicked imaginatively towards goal by Fellaini, and Kapino leaps to tip the ball over the bar. That’s the first shot on target I think. It was a comfortable if showy save.
30 min As we’re discussing all things Greek, here’s some football pornography involving Vassilis Hatzipanagis.
29 min Tachtsidis is booked for shoving Fellaini over 35 yards from goal. Mertens’ lofted free-kick is punched away by Kapino.
27 min This game is verging on the tedious, and no football match means to verge. Greece have defended really well, particularly with that defensive square in central positions.
24 min As we’re discussing all things Belgium, here’s some football pornography involving the wondrous Enzo Scifo.
21 min Lovely play from Belgium. Carrasco feeds the ball into Lukaku, who backheels it on the run to Nainggolan. He guides an angled first-time pass into the area towards Mertens, who falls over after a challenge from Tzavellas. Belgium want a penalty but Felix Brych is having none of it. It looked like nothing more than good body strength from Tzavellas.
20 min Naingollan may look like a Rage Against The Machine song on legs, but he is the classiest footballer of their midfield trio. The moment I type that, of course, he screams a cross straight out of play on the far side.
19 min Greece have done well enough so far, the Fellaini chance notwithstanding. Belgium’s passing can be intimidating, but you have to ignore it and remember that goals win matches. If I was managing a team against Martinez’s Belgium, these would be my tactics:
17 min “I’m not really wanting to start anything public on this subject, but whilst I can see your point about Belgium as the time they blew their big moment, it’s more tricky about England about the hype, when we are so inundated with our own media, dissecting it so ruthlessly,” says Drew Goldie. “Was there really a golden generation, or was it just because football because more fashionable and wasn’t just back-page stuff? Perception’s a funny one. Do you know if the foreign press hyped England as potential winners of tournaments from - what, 98 to 2010?”
I see your point but I honestly think they did, certainly in 2006 and probably a little either side of them. On paper, Eriksson’s England were extremely good, and most of them were regulars in the later stages of the Champions League.
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14 min “Surely the most puzzling omission is Moussa Dembele,” says John Tumbridge. “He has helped drive Spurs to second place at the moment and looked great all season.”
Yes I’d have him over Witsel or Fellaini, but Roberto Martinez will have his reasons. I love Dembele. The way he hugs the ball on his left when he runs with the ball is just so damn moreish.
13 min The first chance of the match. Mertens has time on the right and picks out a deliberate deep cross, arrowing it right onto the big, welcoming noggin of Fellaini. For once he makes a mess of a header, mistiming it well wide of the far post. He should have scored, and usually would have done. It was a brilliant cross from Mertens.
10 min “Rob, the Belgians seem to be like a great beer in the making, with all the right ingredients, but that goes flat when poured out at the big occasions,” says Al The Pub Landl Justin Kavanagh. “So researching this, I’ve discovered that beer is given its fizz by being placed in a sealed container under pressure, whereby the beer absorbs the CO2. My conclusion is that Roberto Martinez needs to get his squad together a month before Russia in a Trappist environment and threaten blue murder if they don’t produce the goods next summer. After all, who wouldn’t bubble after a month of Martinez’s non-stop optimism?”
Sepp Piontek tried that in 1986, a story told in Danish Dynamite, named by the BBC as one of the five best football books of all time. But what he didn’t know is that Jan Molby had the keys to the secret beer stash, and the greatest Danish team of all didn’t win the World Cup.
Phew, for a minute there, I lost myself.
9 min Belgium are passing and moving as if they’re on the catwalk. It looks great, to be fair, and I bet they are bloody good in the rondo. In this actual match, almost all of their elegant passing has been in front of Greece.
7 min Breaking nostalgia: Greece won Euro 2004.
5 min “Belgium must be good if they can’t find places for Hazard or de Bruyne,” says Jake Lynch. “Is this some recondite scheme by Roberto Martinez? Or are they injured?”
Yep, both injured.
4 min I’m not sure Greece have been out of their half yet. Belgium are swaggering around, moving the ball quickly and confidently.
2 min A fast start from Belgium. Mertens, playing on the left in the absence of Eden Hazard, crosses towards the near post. Kapino spills it but just manages to grab it at the second attempt as Lukaku lunges towards the ball. The Greece defenders weren’t happy with Lukaku’s challenge, though it looked legitimate.
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1 min Peep peep! Belgium, in the usual red and black, kick off from left to right. Greece are in white.
“Belgium better start delivering,” says Phil Podolsky, “cause their midfield conductor and architect is turning 30 this year.”
Team news
Belgium (3-3-3-1) Courtois; Alderweireld, Ciman, Vertonghen; Nainggolan, Witsel, Fellaini; Chadli, Mertens, Carrasco; Lukaku.
Greece (4-2-3-1) Kapino; Torosidis, Manolas, Sokratis, Tzavellas; Tachtsidis, Samaris; Mantalos, Fortounis, Stafylidis; Mitroglou.
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A bit of pre-match reading
Preamble
Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call a golden generation. Belgium are in danger of becoming the disappointment of their generation. They have looked great on paper for a few years now, but all they have managed on the pitch are two tame quarter-final defeats at the World Cup and European Championship.
They have replaced England as the team with the highest hype: achievement ratio in world football. It’s not too late to change that, though. They are still a young side - Romelu Lukaku is 23, Kevin de Bruyne 25, Eden Hazard 26 - and most of their squad should have at least two more major tournaments in them.
Assuming they qualify, that is. They have made a flying start to World Cup qualification under Roberto Martinez, winning their four games 3-0, 4-0, 6-0 and 8-1. Tonight will be a stiffer test: they host Greece, who sit two points behind Belgium at the top of Group H. The two matches between the teams, tonight and in September, will almost certainly decide who takes the only automatic qualification place.
Kick off in Brussels is at 8.45pm local time, 7.45pm GMT.
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