Belgium 2-0 England: World Cup highlights and recap

Belgium beat England 2-0 in the World Cup third-place playoff on Saturday, July 14. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Belgium beat England 2-0 in St. Petersburg in the third-place playoff on Saturday to secure their best ever World Cup finish after they finished fourth in 1986, when they lost the semifinal to Diego Maradona’s Argentina.

The match itself, as these third-place playoffs tend to be, wasn’t particularly exciting. Thomas Meunier gave Belgium and early lead and Eric Dier had a good chance cleared off the line by club teammate Toby Alderweireld before Eden Hazard sealed it late on.

But it was a chance for two teams who have enjoyed positive tournaments to have one final run out in front of their traveling fans. England, despite the loss, can be particularly pleased with their performance given pre-tournament expectations.

Gareth Southgate led one of the youngest sides in the competition to the semifinals, giving England fans back a home something to cheer about at a major tournament for the first time since the ’90s.

Whether they can improve on this going forward is harder to say. They had a relatively easy draw, and with France, Spain, Germany and Belgium all more talented, it will be hard for the Three Lions to make a final.

As for Belgium, their golden generation finally lived up to billing. They may have lost to France in the semifinals, but they knocked out favorites Brazil, and were slightly unfortunate against a very strong France side. They’ll confident heading toward Euro 2020.

Next: Russia 2018: The best player on every team at the World Cup

HIghlights

The World Cup final will take place on Sunday, July 15, at 11 a.m. ET.