Januzaj gives Belgium win over England and top spot

A superb second-half strike from Adnan Januzaj gave Belgium a 1-0 win over England on Thursday to see them top World Cup Group G with a perfect record and consign England to second place, with both sides already assured of going through to the last 16.

Belgium now faces Japan in Rostov-on-Don on Monday while England plays Colombia in Moscow on Tuesday in the knockout phase. Victory in the next round would see Belgium play Brazil or Mexico with England up against Sweden or Switzerland.

Belgum and England rested several first-choice players on Thursday and, despite half-chances at either end, the fans wondered if their teams were willing to accept second spot for an arguably easier run-in by avoiding the more fancied teams.

Yet, six minutes into the second half when the 23-year-old Januzaj shimmied on the edge of the box and sent a perfect shot into the far corner of the net past England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford there was delight in the Belgian camp.

England rued a wasted opportunity by Marcus Rashford after 66 minutes, when he fired wide after finding himself one-on-one with Thibaut Courtois in the Belgian goal. But having rested striker Harry Kane and seven others, they found no reply.

Belgium coach Roberto Martinez fielded Thomas Vermaelen at right-back after injury and sent on central defensive talisman Vincent Kompany near the end to complete a clean sweep with all 20 outfield players in the squad having played in Russia.

Tunisia’s Wahbi Khazri set up the first goal and scored the second to give the North African side its first World Cup win in 40 years with a 2-1 victory over debutants Panama in its final Group G match on Thursday.

 Both teams had already failed to progress to the last 16 with Belgium and England qualifying from the group.

Japan coach Akira Nishino knew he was taking a big gamble in the World Cup on Thursday when he ordered his team to settle for a 1-0 loss to eliminated Poland, and he prayed that Senegal would not snatch the Samurai Blue’s spot in the last 16.

The Volgograd Arena rang with boos from supporters as Japanese players passed the ball tamely among themselves in the final minutes of the closing Group H game and Poland, happy with consolation points, chose not to chase them down.

The high-risk strategy could easily have gone wrong for Japan had Senegal equalised against Colombia in Samara.

In the end, the Africans lost 1-0 to the South Americans and went out by the narrowest of margins to second-placed Japan — a higher yellow card count after finishing level on points, goal difference and the number of goals scored.

Senegal lost out on a second spot in the group to Japan because of a worse disciplinary record.

“Senegal doesn’t qualify because we don’t deserve it. This is one of the rules,” their coach Aliou Cisse said.

“We have to respect it. We would prefer to be eliminated another way... We were fully committed and maybe because we were fully committed we got more yellow cards.”

Senegal followed Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Nigeria — all failing to advance past the group stage, meaning no African team has reached the second round for the first time since the 1982 finals in Spain.

“We did not go for victory but we just relied on the other match,” Nishino told reporters. “That was slightly regrettable but I suppose at that point I didn’t have any other plans.

“I am really not happy about how we played today but...we wanted to go through to the round of 16 and we have, and that is the only salvation that I get.”

Nishino said he passed on clear instructions to the rest of the team when he sent on midfielder Makoto Hasebe as a second-half substitute — no risks and no yellow cards.

“What if we conceded another goal and it was 0-2?” he said. “We went through. Therefore perhaps it was the right decision.”

He said he wanted Japan to be “more free and attacking in the next match” which will be against England or Belgium who play later on Thursday in Group G.

“They are both world-class teams,” he said. “It’s a great challenge for us to be faced against them...I’d like to play both of them because they will pose a fantastic challenge for us.”