Belgium certainly lived up to the hype as a potential dark horse in the upcoming World Cup by breezing through their final send-off games before heading to Brazil.
The Red Devils barely broke a sweat when taking on Luxembourg towards the end of May, registering a 5-1 win in a game they probably could have scored more. Star striker Romelu Lukaku netted a hat trick, before Nacer Chadli and Kevin De Bruyne chipped in with a goal each. However, despite the fantastic performance FIFA later announced that the friendly has not been counted due to the Belgians fielding more than six substitutes.
Belgium then faced a bit stiffer competition on the 1st of June when they took on Sweden who narrowly missed out on the World Cup finals after losing a play-off to Portugal. However, even though the Swedish side did not feature star forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Belgium came away with a comprehensive 2-0 win, with Lukaku and talisman Eden Hazard both scoring to win the game for Marc Wilmots’ men.
The team played their final friendly match against Tunisia in a game which was clearly the warm-up encounter for the Algeria. The Carthage Eagles’ playing style greatly resembles that of the Algerians who the Belgians will face in their first group game in Brazil.
With the game headed for a 0-0 draw, Napoli’s Dries Mertens found the back of the net in the 89th minute to end the warm-up games on a high note in spite of the terrible weather conditions.
However, there was also some worry in the Belgian camp after the Tunisia game when it was announced that Lukaku had suffered an ankle sprain. Belgium coach Marc Wilmots kept Lukaku out of the starting lineup in an effort to avoid injury, but brought the striker on before the hour mark when the game was still scoreless.
Wilmots though later announced that Lukaku would only miss four or so days with the injury, so it looks as if he will not be absent from any World Cup matches.
