World Cup: Belgium impress in final warm-up but Eden Hazard limps off

Romelu Lukaku hits two as the group G
favourites beat Costa Rica 4-1

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The Chelsea frontman limped off in the final quarter after a
hefty challenge and while, naturally, Three Lions fans wish him
well, unfortunately the injury doesn’t appear serious enough to
keep him from playing at the World Cup.

“Eden is okay, he had a little trouble, but it’s nothing
to worry about,” said Belgium manager Roberto Martinez at the
post-match press conference. “At the end he just came off because
he had a little bit of a dead leg, a little bit of a knock on his
leg.”

Martinez added that he “really enjoyed his performance, he
was sharp and strong, he was majestic”.

So was another Belgian who plies his trade in England,
Romelu Lukaku, with the Manchester United striker scoring either
side of half-time after the visitors had taken the lead through
Bryan Luiz. The first was a crisp volley and the second a sharp
header as Lukaku took his international tally to 13 goals in his
last nine outings.

“We will still progress before the match against Panama
and we will give 120% against them,” said Lukaku. “We will continue
to make progress later.”

England – who beat Costa Rica 2-0 last week – meet Belgium
in the final game of group G on 28 June and judging from last
night’s performance, the Red Devils will be strong favourites to
win the encounter and finish top of the pool – assuming they don’t
slip up against Panama and Tunisia.

Belgium’s win against Costa Rica – which also included
goals from Dries Mertens and Michy Batshuayi – stretches their
unbeaten run to 18 matches and their first opponents in the World
Cup are Panama on Monday.

Martinez promised that there will be no complacency from
his boys against the Central American underdogs.

“Maybe Panama will get inspiration from what Costa Rica
did in 2014 in Brazil,” he said, a reference to their unexpected
run to the quarter-final. “There’s no fear in the performances of
Concacaf teams. They are quite happy to trust each on the pitch. If
we are not a team in difficult moments during the game these teams
can really hurt you.”

Defender Vincent Kompany was again missing for Belgium
after he suffered a groin injury last week against Portugal.
Martinez will give the Manchester City captain until the day before
the Panama clash to prove his fitness for the World Cup.

Belgium World Cup fixtures

• 18 June: vs. Panama at Fisht Stadium, Sochi (4pm,
  BBC) 
• 23 June: vs. Tunisia at Spartak Stadium, Moscow (1pm,
  BBC) 
• 28 June: vs. England at Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad (7pm,
  ITV)