(Football news) A fantastic performance by Kevin de Bruyne in the first half was enough for Belgium to defeat Wales 2-1 in the UEFA Nations League. The result means that Wales now need to win against Poland in order to not get relegated from Group A4. De Bruyne gave Belgium the lead in the 10th minute with a fantastic left foot finish and then went on to assist Michy Batshuayi in the 37th minute to make it 2-0. Wales managed to reduce the deficit to one early in the second half when Kieffer Moore scored in the 50th minute but couldn’t score the equaliser despite Gareth Bale’s introduction.
After a slow opening 10 minutes, Belgium broke the deadlock from midfielder Kevin de Bruyne whose left footed first time finish at the edge of the area could not be kept out by Wales keeper Wayne Hennessey who managed to get a fingertip to it. The goal was a massive blow for Wales who failed to recover from that early setback. De Bruyne nearly doubled his tally when he struck at the base of the post with a long range effort and he was involved in Belgium’s second goal as well, setting up Batshuayi with an accurate cross who finished from close range.
Wales bounced back in the second half when Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson’s cross was met with a towering header from Kieffer Moore who overpowered Belgium’s 18 year old centre-back Zeno Debast. Gareth Bale was introduced to get the equaliser as Wales almost conceded a penalty when Joe Morell appeared to have brought down Kevin de Bruyne, only for VAR to intervene and rule it as a correct challenge. Forest forward Johnson had an opportunity late in the match to get the equaliser but the 21 year old couldn't find the target.
Speaking after the match, Wales manager Rob Page said “It's a great lesson for us. We were without five players today who would make us stronger. We couldn't press high. Every time we pressed high they played through us. We changed that at half-time and dropped a little bit deeper and changed the shape. There's been lessons learnt here to take into the World Cup. I said to them in the changing room, we've asked for this. By qualifying for the World Cup, we're asking to compete against nations like Belgium, like Holland, and we've been in the games right up until the end. It speaks volumes about that group of players.
"Tactically, of course we're going to have to make tweaks and changes. They're the number two seed in the world, by the way. We've come away from home, it's 2-1 at the death and we're still creating chances. There are too many positives. I'm not going to be negative. It's one game now. If we've come from June to now where we've qualified for the World Cup and stayed in the division [League A] then that's a massive achievement for those players. We've just got to recover the lads [for Poland on Sunday]. There'll be some changes made and we'll go and put a team out to win the game. It's the final. Forget the World Cup, this is the game we want to win on Sunday."
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