Belgium have avoided another World Cup shock and manage to pull off a stunning comeback after beating Japan 3-2 in the last moment and fix a quarterfinal with Brazil in a thrilling last-16 clash of FIFA World Cup on Monday.
The electrifying comeback, featuring five second-half goals capped by a 94th-minute winner, sent Belgium to a quarterfinal matchup against the five-time World Cup champion Brazil in Kazan on Friday.
The Red Devils found themselves 2-0 down early in the second half after Japan scored a quick-fire double where Roberto Martinez’s team rallied in stunning fashion to set up a mouth-watering quarter-final against Brazil.
Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima wasn’t really tested throughout the first half as the Asian powerhouses showed a lot of grit at the back and tried to break on the counter.
“There are not many games you can overcome 2-0,” Roberto Martínez, Belgium’s Spanish coach, said with a smile surely borne of relief as much as joy. “It’s down to the personality, focus, the never-give-up attitude of players”.
Belgium had never won a last 16 World Cup match inside 90 minutes and as the clock ticked down it looked increasingly likely that this game was to be decided by extra time or penalties.
The Red Devils had brushed aside Panama and Tunisia in its first two games before edging England 1-0 in a World Cup equivalent of an exhibition game, with both teams already qualified for the knockout rounds.
Japan, in contrast, stumbled into the second round by virtue of having received fewer yellow cards than Senegal in Group H, a hitherto unseen World Cup tiebreaker.
> Shatabdi Sarker Poushi
Belgium’s Stunning Comeback Terminate Japan’s World Cup Journey
