The Belgian team did their homework and after beating Estonia in Brussels 3-1 they secured their presence at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The ‘red devils’ did not speculate. They knew that victory gave them the ticket without having to wait for the last day and they took it out against a rival who was no longer in the game.
In minute 5, Robert Martínez’s team had the first chance. Caracoleó Benteke – the substitute of the injured Lukaku – inside the area to take a shot with the left foot that brushed in a defender, passing the ball just over the crossbar. The control of the Belgians was total, with a high possession of the ball, against an Estonia that limited itself to defending itself and rarely seeking to go against it.
The pitcher went so much to the visiting fountain that it ended up breaking. The 1-0 came in the 9th minute and its origin was in the ‘colchonero’ Carrasco, who in an intermission on the left wing left his marker and crossed to the area, where the Estonian goalkeeper Igonen, with everything in favor, did not He managed to block the ball and Benteke, playing Lukaku, thanked the gift to send it to the back of the goal.
The 1-0 did not relax the ‘red devils’, who were able to score again after a quarter of an hour. A direct free kick by De Bruyne was touched ‘in extremis’ by the goalkeeper, just enough for the ball to hit the wood.
Belgium’s offensive barrage seemed to have no end. In the 20th minute, a Benteke header smashed into the right post and just a minute later a cross shot from the forward found a very good hand under the goalkeeper. Estonia defended itself like a belly-up cat and did not appear before Courtois until half an hour, when a cross shot from Poom from the front ended up brushing the left post.
From there at the end of the first period there was still another Belgium. A new shot from Benteke from the penalty spot helped Igonen to shine again at the King Baudouin Stadium.
After passing through the changing rooms, the script of the meeting remained unchanged, with Belgium ready to put victory on track. It did not take long to achieve it with a spectacular goal from Yannick Carrasco in the 52nd minute. The Atlético de Madrid player received a ball in the front after Benteke’s left, looked up to fix the goal, and took a shoe with his leg left, straight to the squad against which Igonen could not do anything.
It seemed that all the fish had been sold, but Estonia wanted to give excitement to the duel and the World Cup qualification of the Belgians. And it is that in the 69th minute, when Robert Martínez had already sent Real Madrid player Eden Hazard to the bench, a powerful shot from Sappinen could not be stopped by Courtois and Sorga, attentive, took advantage of the goal rejection to score at will and put the 2 -1 on the scoreboard.
Belgium was not willing to throw away everything they had done and in the 73rd minute Thorgan Hazard, who had entered as a brother, aborted any surprise attempt by scoring after a great cross from De Bruyne. It was 3-1 that would already be the final result and the one that certified the presence of the Belgians in the Qatar World Cup.