Debutants Panama were schooled by Belgium in their 2018 FIFA World Cup Group G opener as Manchester United forward Romelu Luaku bagged a brace after Dries Mertens had opened the scoring with a fine volley to give the Belgian Red Devils a commanding 3-0 win on Monday night.
Roberto Martinez’s men were on top straight from kick off but due to an inspired performance from Jaime Penedo in the Panama goal, were unable to score in the opening 45 minutes.
Initially, Panama looked out of their depth but they had a few chances whenever the Belgian defence switched off, with Thibaut Courtois alert to the danger.
Despite the stalemate at the interval, there was an air of inevitability around the Fisht Stadium as it seemed only a matter of time before Belgium found the breakthrough.
And they did, with Dries Mertens popping up with a goal of the tournament contender as his vicious volley ended the brave resistance of the Central America nation in the 47th minute.
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With the first goal in the bag, Belgium started to express themselves more and as the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and skipper Eden Hazard started to get the ball in dangerous areas, another goal seemed imminent.
It was Lukaku who would make sure of the three points with a well-worked move that had the aforementioned Hazard and De Bruyne heavily involved.
De Bruyne’s outside-of-the-boot cross split Panama’s defence wide open and Lukaku arrived at the far post to put the ball in the back of the net.
It was Hazard’s turn to pick up an assist next as his deft through ball slipped Lukaku through on goal and the burly forward cooly guided the ball over the onrushing Penedo and with 15 minutes left, it looked like game over.
The spirited Panamanians didn’t give up and very nearly opened their World Cup account, only for Courtois to earn his keep with some smart saves.
One chip from distance would definitely have been in the running for goal of the tournament but the Chelsea custodian was alert to the danger and he tipped the effort over the bar to preserve his clean sheet.
England play Tunisia in the other Group G game later on Monday but Belgium will be purring with delight after their ideal start for almost all the favourites have been far from impressive till now.
Their ‘Golden Generation’ has made an auspicious start to their campaign in Russia, but it remains to be seen if they can continue in this vein.