Belgium completely destroyed Poland in the second round of the UEFA Nations League on Wednesday evening at the King Baudouin Stadium. It was a proper reaction in style, both to losing the opening match to Netherlands, and to going down to a Robert Lewandowski opener as they put six goals past Bartlomiej Drągowski in the Poland goal.
Axel Witsel was the man who equalized in the 42nd minute. Kevin De Bruyne turned the score around in the 59th, before Leandro Trossard struck twice (73′ and 8o’) and Leander Dendocker bagged the fifth in the 83rd. The icing on the cake came from 22-year-old Lois Openda, who scored his first international goal on his international debut in the in the third minute of stoppage time.
No Lukaku, no problem
Romelu Lukaku missed this clash after twisting his ankle in the Netherlands defeat a few days earlier, and for a large part of the first half it seemed Belgium would struggle to find the back of the opposition net in his absence.
But once Witsel blasted the equalizer from just outside the box and De Bruyne turned the game around, the goals just kept coming. Interestingly enough, Michy Batshuayi who replaced Lukaku in the starting XI obviously wasn’t among the five scorers on the sheet, though he was involved in the passages of play which led to some of them. Most notably, the fine pass which set Trossard up for his first of the evening came from the Besiktas striker.
The thing is, the man who pulls the strings as the playmaker in this Belgium side is De Bruyne, the player who does that for Manchester City as well, and the Premier League champions are known for their ability to play without a classic, designated No.9. That, of course, is about to change, with the arrival of Erling Haaland to the Etihad now imminent.
But leaving such digressions aside, Belgium are perfectly capable of carving an opponent up even without Lukaku in their ranks.
Lewandowski frustrated
It’s hard to imagine anyone being frustrated by Poland getting beaten like this as much as Lewandowski. The 33-year-old is caught up in a transfer storm at the moment, having explicitly declared his wish to leave Bayern Munich. The Bayern hierarchy aren’t however, keen on getting pressured into losing their main attacking threat and it’s become a proper standoff between the player and the club. Barcelona are waiting in the shadows, ready to pounce when the moment comes.
Speaking about being ready to pounce, Lewandowski certainly showed himself in such a light in the 26th minute of this match, reacting beautifully to flick the ball past Simon Mingolet who stood in for Real Madrid hero Thibaut Courtois.
Lewandowski left the field in the 59th minute to be replaced by Adam Buksa, when the score stood at 2-1 against his team. He probably could’ve helped his team present a proper threat for Mignolet further, but coach Czeslaw Michniewicz had perhaps given up at that point or simply wanted to spare his main striker a little bit. Therefore, Bayern’s contract rebel watched on from the bench as his team kept sinking deeper against a very inspired host.
Poland will play in this year’s World Cup and it’ll likely be the last chance for Lewandowski to make a mark at the biggest stage of international football, though Poland’s ability to achieve a notable result in Qatar is questionable.
Trossard inspired
Trossard falls into that category of players who appear to be at a standstill in their careers. He plays for Brighton and Hove Albion, but with all due respect to the Seagulls, his quality arguably warrants a place in a club at least competing for a place in Europe; maybe even in the Champions League.
There have been players on such a path in recent history of the Premier League. The best example is, perhaps, Wilfried Zaha, who was a target for several top clubs in recent years, but he’s still at Crystal Palace and, turning 30 in November, the window of opportunity to do something more in his career is growing narrower by the year.
At the age of 27, Trossard is going down that road himself, and given how young some of the world’s greatest stars are these days, he might already be considered too old to be a primary target for a top club.
Nonetheless, the winger showed what he’s capable against Poland. His first goal was a fine example of making a smart run to get on the end of a smart pass, and the ability to finish in a composed manner from a chance that was probably more difficult than it looked. The second was a pure work of art, one that Dragowski won’t forget in a hurry.
Given the presence of players like the Hazard brothers and Yannick Carrasco in the Belgium squad, it’s not easy for Trossard to feature regularly for his country, but he certainly took his chance to impress on this occasion.
Group standings
Netherlands beat Wales in Cardiff in the other match of the group, and the Dutch now lead the way as the only team with six points from two matches. Belgium and Poland follow with three, Belgium ahead on goal difference after this match, and Wales are at the bottom without points after losing both to Poland and Netherlands.
Next up, Belgium face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, while go to Netherlands, and then it’s the rematch of this clash set to take place in Poland, while Netherlands and Wales fight it off at the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam.
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