WORLD CUP FRIENDLIES - Lukaku hits hat-trick as Belgium beat Luxembourg 5-1
Belgium won for the first
time in five matches on Monday with a Romelu Lukaku hat-trick
securing a 5-1 friendly win over a Luxembourg side ranked 100
places below them.
Three weeks before their World Cup opener, Belgium showed
off the neat passing that has prompted many to tip them to do
well in Brazil and also blooded three debutants, including
19-year-old Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj.
However, the defensive lapse that allowed a Luxembourg
equaliser will encourage World Cup rivals Algeria, Russia and
South Korea that they can upset the Group H favourites.
"I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but it was the first game in
three weeks. I wasn't so happy with organisation in the first
half," said coach Marc Wilmots.
"We had a reaction in the second half. We were perhaps a bit
nonchalant. But we still have three weeks to go."
A catalogue of keeper injuries and the absence of number one
Thibaut Courtois, recovering from Saturday's Champions League
final, meant a first cap for Sammy Bossut, one of only three
squad members still playing in Belgium.
Otherwise, Belgium, set to play in their first World Cup
since 2002, began with a line-up that may well start their
tournament opener against Algeria on June 17.
When Lukaku struck in the third minute it looked like being
a very tough night for the visitors, but 10 minutes later they
equalised when Aurelien Joachim, who plays for Dutch side RKC
Waalwijk, span off Thomas Vermaelen and fired in.
It was perhaps the wake-up call a slightly sleepy Belgium
required, allowing Lukaku to score his first international
hat-trick. He had the doggedness of Marouane Fellaini to thank
for his opener, a failed Luxembourg clearance for his second,
while he dribbled through the defence for his third.
Belgium brought on five substitutes at half-time, giving a
debut to Januzaj, who only declared his allegiance to Belgium a
month ago. Lille's Divock Origi, another uncapped teenager in
the squad, replaced Lukaku on the hour mark.
Substitute Nacer Chadli scored Belgium's fourth while Kevin
De Bruyne converted a 91st minute penalty.
Belgium will fly to Stockholm on Tuesday for a training camp
ending with a friendly against Sweden on Sunday in which Wilmots
said he would try to simulate more of a World Cup feel with
fewer substitutes.
After a few days at the Belgian coast, they play a warm-up
match against Tunisia in Brussels before boarding their plane to
Sao Paolo on June 10 and a match behind closed door against the
United States two days later.
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