Substitute Leandro Trossard scored twice as Belgium put their Netherlands nightmare behind them to thump Poland 6-1 in a pulsating Nations League A game at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Wednesday. Belgium, coming off a 4-1 home drubbing by their Dutch neighbours on Friday, fell behind when Robert Lewandowski netted just before the half-hour mark, but levelled before the break through Axel Witsel.
They dominated the second period and after goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Trossard (two), Leander Dendoncker and debutant Lois Openda moved second in Group Four after two rounds, above Poland in third.
Belgium visit bottom side Wales on Saturday while Poland travel to the Netherlands. Poland host Belgium in their return fixture on Tuesday. The home side never looked flustered after falling behind, having scored in every game since a 1-0 loss to France at the 2018 World Cup, a run of 46 consecutive matches.
They also had Eden Hazard running the show as he impressed in his 66 minutes on the pitch, showing flashes of quality after a season blighted by injury and poor form at Real Madrid.
But Poland took the lead against the run of play when Sebastian Szymanski fed Lewandowski in space in the box and the forward completed a typically composed finish for his 76th international goal. Belgium were level three minutes before half-time as Witsel fired into the back of the net from the edge of the box, a reward for their growing dominance.
They peppered the Poland goal with shots in the second period and took the lead when Hazard slipped the ball to De Bruyne in acres of space in the box and the midfielder supplied a cool finish.
That was the goal to open the floodgates, and Trossard grabbed a quickfire brace, his second a superb curling effort into the top corner.
Dendoncker then crashed home a 30-yard shot under no pressure from the wilting visitors, and Openda completed the rout in injury-time as he marked his first cap with a neat finish over the goalkeeper from Thorgan Hazard’s clever pass.
Dramatic finish
A second-string Netherlands beat Wales 2-1 away after a dramatic late finale, bringing the hosts back down to earth after they secured World Cup qualification at the weekend. Wout Weghorst won the game for the Dutch, scoring with a header four minutes into stoppage time, straight after Wales looked to have snatched a late draw when Rhys Norrington-Davies netted two minutes into stoppage time.
Teun Koopmeiners opened the scoring five minutes into the second half to give the visitors the lead, after coach Louis van Gaal had changed his entire team from the side that opened their League A Group Four campaign with a 4-1 thumping of neighbours Belgium last Friday.
Wales also rested some of their senior squad members after winning a World Cup place for the first time in 64 years when they beat Ukraine 1-0 on Sunday, allowing fringe players to stake a claim for selection in the Qatar-bound team. Welsh talisman Gareth Bale made a cameo appearance in the final quarter-hour but it was Norrington-Davies who rose powerfully at the back post to head home an equaliser.
“It was a fantastic counter but we were sloppy in the first half, turned over a lot of possession and so we couldn’t attack. But I keep saying we have a tremendous squad,” Van Gaal said after the game.
Nervy victory
Ukraine overcame the disappointment of not qualifying for the World Cup by kick-starting campaign with a nervy 1-0 victory over Ireland in Dublin. Ukraine, beaten by Wales in the World Cup qualifying playoff final on Sunday, were the better side in Dublin and a set-piece goal from midfielder Viktor Tsygankov sealed the three points for the war-torn nation.
Ukraine nearly took the lead from a counter-attack late in the first half when Taras Kacharaba found the back of the net with a stunning half-volley from outside the box but the effort was ruled out for offside in the build-up.
