{"id":660762,"date":"2026-06-27T08:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/660762\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T08:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:04:17","slug":"five-star-belgium-through-as-new-zealand-sent-packing-from-world-cup-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/660762\/","title":{"rendered":"Five-star Belgium through as New Zealand sent packing from World Cup | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leandro Trossard struck twice as Belgium demolished New Zealand<\/a> 5-1 to clinch top spot in Group G and march into the World Cup\u2019s last 32, \u2060while the All Whites\u2019 tournament dreams \u2060crumbled.<\/p>\n

Belgium finished above Egypt on \u200bgoal difference after they both ended with five points from three matches, followed by Iran on three points and New Zealand on one. In the other match in the group, Egypt drew 1-1 with Iran<\/a>. Belgium \u2060will next face one of the eight best third-placed teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have performed very well,\u201d Trossard said. \u201cWe are happy now because we\u2019re number one. Now we have to go to the round of 32, and we\u2019re all ready to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople \u2060are very happy [in Belgium]. Many people watched the match. The atmosphere [for the next one] will be great in my country because we\u2019re going to the next \u200bstage. I feel very good. I think we\u2019re growing into the tournament, \u200cmyself as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belgium dominated from \u200cthe outset and were the only side to threaten in the opening half, enjoying the bulk of possession. Trossard thought he had given them the lead \u200cin the 11th minute, only to see his effort strike the post and bounce to safety.<\/p>\n

Leandro Trossard profile<\/a><\/p>\n

Minutes later, Belgium were awarded a penalty after the New Zealand defender Finn Surman was hit on the arm by Trossard\u2019s shot. However, following a video review, the referee ruled that Surman\u2019s arm was in a natural position and overturned the decision.<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s pressure finally told in the 28th minute when Trossard converted Kevin De Bruyne\u2019s cross from close range, finishing off a well-worked move to break the deadlock.<\/p>\n

Trossard, 31, doubled Belgium\u2019s lead in the 50th minute, again combining with De Bruyne \u200cas he latched on to a through ball, controlled it on his chest and volleyed home from close range.<\/p>\n

New Zealand threatened when Eli Just forced Thibaut Courtois into action in the 54th minute, the goalkeeper diving low to push away \u200btheir first shot on target. De Bruyne added a third goal soon after, striking low from the edge of the box after being set up by Trossard, taking one touch on to his left foot before driving the ball into the bottom corner. The 34-year-old became the oldest player to score for Belgium at a World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Kevin De Bruyne becomes Belgium\u2019s oldest World Cup goalscorer at 34. Photograph: Darryl Dyck\/The Canadian Press\/AP<\/p>\n

New \u2060Zealand pulled one back through Just in the 84th minute, but Romelu Lukaku restored Belgium\u2019s three-goal lead with a \u200bpowerful header before fellow substitute Alexis Saelemaekers added \u200ba fifth in stoppage time to compound a miserable \u200bnight for New Zealand, who are still waiting for their first World Cup victory.<\/p>\n

Lukaku, 33, also became Belgium\u2019s top \u200bscorer at the World Cup with \u200csix goals, surpassing Marc Wilmots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u200bresult hurts,\u201d said the New Zealand coach, Darren \u200bBazeley. \u201cI\u2019m proud of the performance and the work rate. We had to deal with a very good team for very long periods today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience of this is going to make us better. Next tournament, we\u2019ll be a lot more hardened. It\u2019s a long way off and it hurts right now because we came to get out of the group and we haven\u2019t done that, but we had chances to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leandro Trossard struck twice as Belgium demolished New Zealand 5-1 to clinch top spot in Group G and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-660762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}