Bern: Romelu Lukaku scored twice as Belgium beat fellow World Cup qualifiers Costa Rica 4-1 at home in a friendly Monday while Senegal beat South Korea 2-0 in a game played at an Austrian third division ground.
Dries Mertens and Michy Batshuayi were also on target for Belgium while Eden Hazard impressed with creativity and speed for the hosts, who start their World Cup campaign Monday against Panama in Sochi. However, 20 minutes from the end Hazard hobbled off the ground though coach Roberto Martinez insisted it was ‘nothing’. “He had a little bit of dead leg, a little bit of a knock,” Martinez told reporters. Nothing to be worried about.
It was however, Costa Rica, who were quarterfinalists four years ago, who went ahead against the run of play with a goal by captain Bryan Ruiz in the 24th minute.
Mertens equalised before Lukaku scored either side of half time and Batshuayi completed an impressive win for Belgium, whose team are hoping they can finally do justice to their golden generation tag in Russia under coach Roberto Martinez.
They disappointed in previous outings at major tournaments, losing in the quarter-finals to Argentina at the last World Cup in Brazil and then at the same stage to Wales at Euro 2016, both under Marc Wilmots.
There was confusion around Monday’s other friendly, also featuring two Russia-bound sides, which was played behind closed doors at the home of Groedig, a village near Salzburg.
Details of the game were not even available on betting websites, which generally carry results from even the most obscure matches, and there was outrage on social media, especially among those who had placed bets on the outcome.
The match appeared to kick off half an hour late and some media reports said that Senegal won 2-0 after Kim Young-gwon put through his own net and Moussa Konate scored in the 90th minute.
Neither federation, however, had published the result on its websites several hours after the end of the match, although the Senegalese website had their team’s starting 11.
FIFA could not immediately be reached to comment on whether the game would be considered a full international.