Belgium furthered their World Cup Fantasy appeal on Wednesday night as they thrashed an Egypt side still without Mohamed Salah.
Panama’s goal-scoring woes dragged on while Victor Moses was deployed as a striker in Nigeria’s latest defeat.
We’ve got all the goals, assists and line-ups from the latest round of international friendlies here…
BELGIUM 3-0 EGYPT
Belgium completely dominated a 3-0 win over Egypt on Wednesday evening as the Pharaohs continue to struggle in the absence of the injured Salah.
Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard was the star of the show as he registered a goal and an assist in the first half.
Romelu Lukaku scored the opener in the 27th minute after Hazard had found space and fired off a shot. The effort was saved by 45-year-old goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary but he could only push it to Lukaku’s feet, who finished from close range.
In the 38th minute Hazard found the net after latching onto Yannick Carrasco’s cross.
Substitute Michy Batshuayi provided the assist for fellow replacement Marouane Fellaini to score an injury-time third goal.
The Red Devils enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the match (58%) and dominated the shot count too (20 to eight).
Once again, without Salah in their side Egypt lacked any thrust going forward. Meanwhile, Belgium looked a very dangerous prospect for the World Cup with Dries Mertens and Kevin De Bruyne impressing as well as the goal-scorers.
A three-man defence of Laurent Ciman, Toby Alderweireld and Settlers of Catan enthusiast Jan Vertonghen also performed well, keeping a fourth clean sheet in a row for Belgium.
BELGIUM XI (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Vertonghen (Boyata 81’), Ciman, Alderweireld; Carrasco, Witsel (Fellaini 45’), De Bruyne, Meunier (T Hazard 70’); E Hazard (Januzaj 45’, Mertens (Chadli 45’); Lukaku (Batshuayi 45’).
EGYPT XI (4-2-3-1): El-Hadary (El-Shenawy 45’); Abdul-Shady, Hegazi, Gabr, Fathy (El Mohamady 71’); Hamed (Morsy 62’), Elneny; Sobhi (Kahraba 67’), Bekhit, Warda (Gaber 79’); Mohsen (Trezeguet 56’).
NORWAY 1-0 PANAMA
Panama rounded off their preparation for World Cup 2018 with another defeat and head to this summer’s finals with just one goal in their last five matches.
Norway, who failed to secure passage to Russia, executed a perfect game-plan by going in front in the fourth minute and sitting back to protect their lead thereafter.
It was Bournemouth’s Josh King who got the goal Sten Grytebust accredited with the assist.
Panama had 65% of the possession and fired off eight shots on goal to Norway’s five, but only one of them was on target.
The only player to score for Panama since the turn of the year was Josiel Nunez in April’s win over Trinidad and Tobago.
Outside of that they drew 0-0 with Northern Ireland last month and were defeated 1-0 and 6-0 by Denmark and Switzerland respectively in March.
The central American side look desperately short of attacking threat ahead of their Group G opener against Belgium on June 18th.
None of Panama’s players scored more than twice in the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, in which Panama finished with a goal-difference of minus one.
PANAMA XI (4-1-4-1): Penedo; Davis, Escobar, R Torres (Cummings 58’), Machado (Murillo 46’); Gomez (Pimentel 79’); Rodriguez (Quintero 46’), Cooper, Godoy, Barcenas (G Torres 46’); Perez (Diaz 58’).
NIGERIA 0-1 CZECH REPUBLIC
It was another disappointing performance from Nigeria as they were beaten by Czech Republic in Switzerland.
After being thrashed 4-0 by Australia last week, the Czech’s hardly had to be at their best to see off Gernot Rohr’s Super Eagles.
However, there was an interesting development from a Fantasy perspective as Victor Moses, a defender on Fantasy iTeam, was deployed as a striker alongside former Watford front-man Odion Ighalo.
Czech Republic deservedly took the lead in the 25th minute when Tomas Kalas scrambled the ball over the line following Tomas Soucek’s header from a corner, which was initially saved by goalkeeper Francis Uzoho.
Wilfried Ndidi came closest to an equaliser for Rohr’s men but his 30-yard effort was well saved by Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
In the second-half, after heavy rainfall caused a short break, Nigeria were more attack-minded with John Obi Mikel having a header saved, but they couldn’t find a breakthrough.
The Super Eagles now head into the World Cup with just one win in their last five and three defeats.
NIGERIA XI (3-5-2): Uzoho; Ogu, Troost-Ekong, Balogun; Idowu (Echiejile 69’), Ndidi, Obi Mikel (Iheanacho 80’), Iwobi, Shehu (Ebuehi 46’); Ighalo (Nwankwo 69’), Moses (Musa 79’).
World Cup Previews by Team
Group A – Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group B – Iran, Morocco, Portugal, Spain
Group C – Australia, Peru, France, Denmark
Group D – Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria
Group E – Brazil, Switzerland
Our editor’s Fantasy World Cup tips as told to Proper Sport
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5 years, 10 months agoDouble OOP Moses