Belgian fans will never forget where they were on 2 July 2018, when their team produced one of the nation's greatest FIFA World Cup™ feats. Trailing Japan 2-0 in the 69th minute of their last-16 clash, the Red Devils eventually ran out 3-2 winners, scoring at the death after a perfectly executed counter-attack.
Whether they watched the match at home or from the stands in Rostov-on-Don, most Belgian fans must have felt they had witnessed something truly extraordinary. A true once-in-a-lifetime moment.
Yet almost eight years to the day after that famous turnaround, lightning struck twice as Belgium gave their fans a near-repeat of that same remarkable script. On the brink of World Cup elimination, trailing Senegal 2-0 in the 85th minute in Seattle, the Red Devils rewrote history again, this time winning in the dying moments of extra time.
“It was a really tough match, especially after going 2-0 down, but we had to keep believing,” Thibaut Courtois told FIFA after the match.
The Belgium goalkeeper had also been a part of that first extraordinary fightback in Russia, and he was quick to draw the obvious parallel.
“Eight years ago against Japan, it was a similar kind of match. We were 2-0 down and came back to win 3-2. One goal can change everything in football. That’s what happened today, and I’m very proud of the team for continuing to believe we could do it.”
The match against Japan was the last time any team had come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a match at the finals. The wait ended, fittingly enough, with Belgium doing it all over again.
“Honestly, I’m sick of matches like this,” joked Romelu Lukaku at the final whistle. As Jan Vertonghen had done in 2018, this time it was Belgium’s all-time leading scorer who lit the fuse for his side’s revival, brilliantly steering in a cross from fellow 2018 veteran Thomas Meunier in the 86th minute. "It was tough, but we dug deep. In the end, we showed real character and you need that in matches like this, because that Senegal team were one of the best sides in the tournament.”
Moments after Lukaku’s goal, captain Youri Tielemans was in the right place to head home after Senegal goalkeeper Mory Diaw mistimed his attempted catch. It was enough to spark wild celebrations on the bench, in the stands and, of course, across Belgium. In Russia, incidentally, Belgium had needed five minutes to get back on level terms after their first. In Seattle, they needed just three.
“I was playing a bit higher up the pitch, so I tried to get my head on it in the box and it came off perfectly,” the Aston Villa player explained. “We knew the goalkeeper was very aggressive coming for high balls and I was in the perfect position. The cross was perfect too. I just threw everything at it to score.”
Where this story differs from the one eight years ago is that, this time around, the Red Devils had to navigate a nerve-shredding period of extra time in which both sides went all in for victory. As in Russia, however, it all came down to the dying moments, with Youri Tielemans emerging as the hero of the afternoon. Having watched the Japan match from the bench, the former Monaco man took centre stage in his side’s latest triumph, winning a penalty and then converting it himself brilliantly in the 125th minute – the latest goals ever scored at the finals.
Belgium can now turn their attention to their next assignment, a last-16 Seattle showdown with USA. Facing a co-host on home soil will be no easy task, but the manner of their comeback against Senegal may well have given the Red Devils a whole new level of belief.
Here’s what former winger about 2018: “We got to the end of the match, we scored in the final minute, and we won. I remember we then started receiving all these videos going around Belgium of people going crazy, and you think to yourself, ”we have to keep going for them.”
Buoyed by that win, Hazard and Co went on to finish third. Can the Red Devils now dare to dream of the same fate in this tournament – or perhaps even more?
Sources: FIFA Official
