That was followed up by a header from substitue Marouane Fellaini. The steep slope Belgium were looking up at became easier when Jan Vertonghen sent a header looping over Eiji Kawashima. Were we about to have another scalp at the World Cup. But it seemed like they were out of luck when Hazard struck the post from a volley inside the penalty area. They doubled their lead four minutes later whe Takashi Inui sent another laser beam past Courtois, this time to the other side of the Belgian keeper.īelgium had to act. Japan were 1-0 up and were still looking dangerous in attack. On 48 minutes, however, Genki Haraguchi took the ball into the penalty are from a counter and sent a rocket past Thibaut Courtois into a the only space he could from a tight angle. The were creating chances but Belgium were laying the pressure on thick up the other end and could have had a handful of goals before the half-time whistle. It was Japan who took the lead despite look out on their feet for large spells of the first half. Having looked lost at sea midway through the second half, Belgium fought back and won the game in the dying seconds thanks to a razor sharp counter-attack. Belgium booked their place for the Friday night showdown against Brazil with a last gasp effort from Nacer Chadli against Japan on Monday night.
