Belgium 3-1 Wales
The road to Qatar started here and, for around 10 minutes, Wales dared to dream.
They may have been playing a nation that tops the FIFA world rankings, but the Welsh – 18th in the rankings themselves – gave their opening World Cup 2022 qualifying match their best shot.
Nevermind they were without the likes of Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey (thigh), Tottenham left-back Ben Davies (calf) and then, just eight minutes in, lost Joe Allen to injury, this was not the foregone conclusion this SBOTOP writer predicted beforehand.
Highlights of the game
Especially when young Harry Wilson swept home the opener beyond Thibaut Courtois just two minutes later following good work by Connor Roberts and a superb perfectly weighted ball by Gareth Bale.
If Wales are to reach a World Cup for the first time since 1958, they will need their star player Bale, and it’s clear the Real Madrid man (on loan at Spurs) craves that stage.
Wales, who had lost only four of their past 30 qualifying matches for the European Championships or World Cup (15 wins, 11 draws), had stunned their hosts and, despite being understrength, created one of the early World Cup 2022 highlights.
Realistically, though, could we expect them to hold on?
Well, they did for 12 minutes and then reigning Premier League footballer of the year Kevin de Bruyne produced a reminder of his talents, powerfully rifling in an equaliser from the edge of the area.
It ended Wales’ run of 418 minutes without conceding on the road in competitive fixtures – a record which shows just how impressive their recent form has been.
If that was a first-class strike, the goal which gave Belgium the lead six minutes later was poor defensively as Thorgan Hazard was left unmarked to head home a teasing cross from Thomas Meunier after Roberts slipped.
Utterly dominant, the World Cup 2022 betting odds were now proving highly accurate.
Unbeaten in their past four meetings with Belgium, Wales started the second half well and Dan James went close as the visitors were a potential danger on the counter-attack.
In truth, however, they didn’t create much and the expected home win was finally confirmed when Chris Mepham fouled Dries Mertens in the box and Romelu Lukaku sent goalkeeper Danny Ward the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Anyone who remembers the last meeting between these nations in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 will remember a contest that many have described as the greatest moment in Welsh footballing history.
This was never likely to provide a repeat, but Wales can take heart from the showing, especially with key men still to return.
Perhaps more pertinently, question marks over who will lead the team against Switzerland for their Group A Euro 2020 opener on June 12 continue to linger.
Key statistics
De Bruyne has been directly involved in 14 goals across his last eight appearances for Belgium (five goals, nine assists), scoring in consecutive matches for his country for the first time since May 2016.
He is the first player to score a competitive away goal against Wales since Juraj Kucka for Slovakia in October 2019.
Wilson has scored in consecutive Wales appearances for the first time in his career, while Bale has now assisted in each of his last three games for his country.
In seven previous meetings in World Cup qualifiers, Wales have beaten Belgium just once, a 2-0 victory in March 1993 with goals from Ryan Giggs and Ian Rush.
Wales have won their opening group stage match in just five of their 19 World Cup qualifying campaigns.
Belgium have won 24 of their past 25 qualifying matches (European Championships and World Cup), since losing 1-0 to Wales in June 2015.
Belgium have not lost a home match in qualifying for the European Championships or World Cup since September 2010 against Germany. They are unbeaten in 25 since, winning 19 and drawing six and scoring 90 goals.
Belgium’s all-time leading scorer Lukaku has netted 41 goals in 39 appearances under Roberto Martinez for the national team. He has 13 goals and four assists in his past 11 appearances for Belgium.
What’s next?
This was the first of three qualifiers in a week for Belgium. A trip to the Czech Republic follows on Saturday night (March 27) ahead of a home tie with Belarus next Tuesday.
Wales also have two more games but only one of them is a qualifier with the Czech Republic arriving next Tuesday (March 30), three days after a friendly against Mexico.
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