Leandro Trossard recorded the brace and Belgium clinched a spot in the round of 32 with a 5-1 World Cup victory over New Zealand in Group G play on Friday night at Vancouver.
Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Saelemaekers added goals as Belgium (1-0-2, 5 points) won the group due to having a better goal differential (plus-4) than Egypt (1-0-2, 5 points, plus-2).
Elijah Just scored a goal for New Zealand (0-2-1, 1 points), who were eliminated from the World Cup.
Thibaut Courtois made one save for Belgium, who had a 34-6 edge in shots and put nine on target to New Zealand’s two.
Max Crocombe had five saves for New Zealand.
Trossard nearly had the hat trick. In the 11th minute, he sent a left-footed shot toward the far post. All was well until the ball hit the goal post and New Zealand’s Tyler Bindon was able to get a foot on the ball to clear it to keep it from crossing the goal line.
Seventeen minutes later, Trossard had luck on his side. De Bruyne took a corner kick and Trossard was in the box and decided against leaping for the ball. It hit the side of New Zealand’s Tim Payne and landed near Trossard, who quickly kicked the ball into the net.
Trossard scored again in the 50th minute. He took a shot that was blocked and the ball came back to him. He sent the second-chance right-footer into the top of the next to give Belgium a 2-0 lead.
Belgium added on in the 66th minute when De Bruyne sent a left-footed blast into the right corner of the net.
Just put New Zealand on the board in the 84th minute. After a corner kick, the ball came in his direction and Just sent a left-footed shot into the top center of the net.
Two minutes later, Belgium got the goal back as Nicolas Raskin delivered a pass and Lukaku went up high and sent a low header past Crocombe.
Saelemaekers tacked on one last tally in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time by drilling a long right-footed blast into the net.
New Zealand didn’t put a shot on goal until the 55th minute. Just sent a hard left-footed shot in and Courtois made the save.
–Field Level Media
