Belgium comes back to beat Japan, reach World Cup quarterfinals
July 2, 2018 - 1:43 pm
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — Nacer Chaldi capped a comeback from a two-goal deficit when he scored in the fourth minute of injury time to give Belgium a 3-2 victory over Japan on Monday and a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals.
Japan led 2-0 on early second-half goals by Genki Haraguchi and Takashi Inui.
Jan Vertonghen then scored with a looping header that appeared to be a cross but dropped in under the crossbar in the 69th minute. Substitute Marouane Fellaini headed in another from Eden Hazard’s cross in the 74th.
Chaldi, who came on as a substitute in the 65th, decided it in injury time.
Belgium goalkeeper Thibault Courtois grabbed a corner kick and rolled the ball to Kevin De Bruyne, who dribbled to the top of the center circle and passed to Thomas Meunier on the right. Meunier one-timed the ball across the area and Romelu Lukaku let it roll by for Chaldi to tap in with his left foot from 7 yards.
The end-to-end attack took only 10 seconds.
Belgium is the first team to overturn a two-goal deficit in a World Cup knockout match since West Germany beat England in extra time at the 1970 tournament.
Belgium will next face Brazil in the quarterfinals on Friday in Kazan.