World Cup Story Feed
World Cup Story Feed
Before Trossard stabbed the ball into the net in the 28th minute, the corner kick taken by De Bruyne first deflected off New Zealand defender Tim Payne.
Before Trossard scored with a stab in the 28th minute, De Bruyne's corner first hit New Zealand defender Tim Payne and changed direction.
The ball rolled to his feet, he stabbed it in, and it was in. The 52,000-plus at BC Place in Vancouver erupted. You couldn't draw this kind of goal on a tactics board; it was pure physical rebound from pent-up frustration over two weeks, bouncing off an opponent's leg.
After a 1-1 draw with Egypt and a 0-0 stalemate with Iran, the "Golden Generation" label had been trashed by fans. Facing New Zealand in the final group match, Belgium had 35 shots and 10 on target—a pure catharsis of running up the score against a weaker team. Trossard scored twice, while De Bruyne, Lukaku, and Saelemaekers each got on the scoresheet in a 5-1 win. Courtois stood quietly behind the goal line, making his 18th World Cup appearance, surpassing Enzo Scifo to become Belgium's all-time leader in World Cup appearances. The goalkeeper set a record, the forwards padded their stats—the misery of the first two games was fully compensated by this one.
The hole from the first two matches was too deep. Even after a 5-1 win, they had to calculate goal difference. Five points, +4 goal difference, 6 scored and 2 conceded—top of the group secured. Garcia's team finally had the "knockout experience" card in hand, but the fragile defense from the first two games made you wonder if the veterans' experience was all used for calculating the scoreline.
New Zealand finished their three group matches with one point, scoring 4 and conceding 10. Just's consolation goal in the 84th minute was his third of the tournament. He carried the entire nation's dignity on his shoulders, while his ten teammates served as background props on the pitch.
In Seattle, Egypt vs. Iran ended 1-1.
No noisy catharsis, just 90 minutes plus stoppage time of slow, painful attrition. In the 5th minute, Salah orchestrated an attack, and Sabir scored from a close-range finish. In the 14th minute, Iran's Rezaeian equalized. Then the score froze. Taremi missed a penalty. In stoppage time, Taremi headed the ball off the crossbar, and then Khalilzadeh scored. The entire Iran team rushed to celebrate, thinking they had secured their ticket to the next round.
VAR sounded.
Offside. Goal disallowed. From ecstasy to despair, separated by just tens of seconds of replay. When the offside line was drawn, the entire Iran bench had already stood up. Now they had to sit back down.
Egypt finished with five points, second in the group, advancing from the World Cup group stage for the first time in their history. Salah left the match early. His injury status hasn't been officially confirmed, but everyone saw him clutching his leg as he walked off. Their knockout opponent will be Australia. Whether Salah, this trump card, can play by kickoff time is unknown to anyone.
Iran has three points and a zero goal difference. Whether they can advance as one of the "best third-placed teams" depends on the results from other groups. The Iranians can only sit in the locker room, scrolling through their phones. Whether it's enough depends on the faces of others.