Match date: 26 March 2013

I haven’t watched Belgium play yet during the qualifiers, but just considering the talent that they have in their squad, I regard them as a possible contender in the 2014 World Cup. They aren’t an outright favourite, mostly because they have a relatively young squad (though not necessarily inexperienced), they could certainly go deep in the tournament much like Uruguay did in the 2010 World Cup.

They’ve been doing well in qualifiers as well; conceding just one goal and scoring ten prior to this match and were on the top of Group A beating out Croatia in goal difference.

To Benteke

Belgium started the match in a 4-2-3-1 with Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke leading the line. Macedonia looked to line up this way, but at times ended up looking more like a 4-4-2 or a lopsided 4-3-3.

Belgium very quickly showed that they were to be the better side on the day, dominating in possession and creating half chances. Though they looked to play short, quick passes to either Hazard or Mertens, Benteke did so well checking to the ball and became Belgium’s main outlet. Witsel, Dembele, and the back four found Benteke’s feet, chest, and head very well throughout the first half. Their first option was to get it to his feet and have him hold it up or lay it off, rarely turning with it himself. When the ball did come to either his chest or his head, he was very good at getting it to his feet or flicking the ball to a teammate. The Macedonia centrebacks weren’t very tight to him for most of the first half which allowed him this freedom.

Belgium Make Changes

After dominating the first half and not really getting many clear cut chances, Belgian manager Marc Wilmots made two substitutions in the first ten minutes of the second half. The first was during half time, bringing Mirallas on for Mertens, who had a lot of space to operate against Georgievski with Ibraimi so narrow. The space allowed him to get into good positions, but his final ball was a bit lacking.

Wilmots second change came when he decided that having two players like Witsel and Dembele were not needed based on how well Belgium were playing. Witsel could do well enough on his own and Dembele wasn’t making the dynamic runs from midfield that saw Tottenham buy him for £15m in the summer from Fulham, so he was replaced by a more attacking threat in Nacer Chadil. With Mirallas and Chadil on, it gave Belgium more of a 4-4-3:

Moving Hazard to the left gave him much more freedom to work, and he looked a lot more comfortable taking on players on that side. His influence in the game certainly grew as well, hitting the crossbar and scoring the games only goal. As Hazard’s influence on the game grew, the reliance on getting the ball into Benteke quickly dropped. Mirallas didn’t have that much of an impact after coming on, but the trio of Hazard, Mirallas, and Chadil combined well with one another and Mirallas’ narrow starting position allowed Alderweireld to get forward a bit more.

Conclusion

One of the most comfortable 1-0 victories that you’ll see. Belgium were the far better side, with over 60% of the ball. Macedonia were only able to create one shot on target and it was a very poor effort by Pandev in the first half. Belgium should have had more than just 1 though as they had 25 total shots, but only had 4 on target, and had 12 corner kicks.

Belgium stay above Croatia in Group A and still have conceded just 1 goal in their six qualifying matches, scoring 11.