World Cup: Belgium lead England after four minutes

Belgium 1-0 England(match underway)


Meunier with then early goal (4)

Five England changes

Jones, Dier, Rose, Delph, Lofts-Cheek start

Kane and Lukaku both start

Tielemans, Meunier come in for Belgium

Bronze medal match

Kane going for Golden Boot

Belgium begins on a serious minded note as Meunier opens the scoring as early as the 4th minute . Are they about to pull another victory after the lone goal victory in the group stage?

TEAM NEWS

Belgium: Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen, Meunier, Witsel, De Bruyne, Tielemans, Chadli, Lukaku, Hazard.

Subs: Vermaelen, Fellaini, Carrasco, Mignolet, Casteels, Mertens, Hazard, Januzaj, Dembele, Boyata, Batshuayi, Dendoncker.

England: Pickford, Jones, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Dier, Delph, Rose, Loftus-Cheek, Sterling, Kane.

Subs: Walker, Lingard, Henderson, Vardy, Butland, Welbeck, Cahill, Young, Rashford, Alli, Alexander-Arnold, Pope.


 PREVIOUS MEETING…

Have two sides ever met twice at the same World Cup with so little at stake in either game?

When they clashed in the group stages, England made eight changes and Belgium made nine, for a game that neither seemed too keen to win for fear of ending up on the “harder” half of the draw.

It was Belgium who ended up edging the contest and finishing top of Group G after Adnan Januzaj’s brilliant strike in the 51st minute.

 OPTA STAT


England’s defeat to Croatia in their last match was their 100th competitive defeat – each of their last six competitive losses have been at major tournaments (five at the World Cup, one at the European Championships).

Harry Kane has had just one shot on target in his last three World Cup matches – his penalty goal against Colombia in the last 16. Kane has not had a shot on target in his last four hours and 33 minutes of action at the World Cup.