MY ACCOUNT
Leandro Trossard shone with a goal and two assists as Belgium cruised to a 3-0 friendly victory over Burkina Faso in Brussels on Tuesday.
Roberto Martinez made six changes to the side that started the 2-2 draw against the Republic of Ireland, but it was one of those who kept their place that opened the scoring.
Hans Vanaken’s header was the first of two goals in the space of two minutes, with Trossard netting an opportunistic strike after setting the Club Brugge midfielder up.
Another brilliant delivery from Trossard was nodded home by substitute Christian Benteke with 15 minutes remaining, rounding off a comfortable outing for the Red Devils.
It could have been very different had Matz Sels not bailed out Sebastiaan Bornauw for a lax pass that Dango Ouattara pounced on with an important tackle early on.
It was a rare opening for the visitors, who fell behind in the 16th minute when Vanaken planted a header from Trossard’s cross into the bottom-left corner.
Trossard then got on the scoresheet himself, converting on the follow-up after Michy Batshuayi’s volley was parried by Burkina Faso goalkeeper Herve Koffi.
Burkina Faso enjoyed more of the ball in the second half and Sels was forced to make a diving save to keep Cedric Badolo’s curling effort out of the bottom-right corner after the hour mark.
Benteke was sent on for Batshuayi in the 69th minute and, after being denied by Koffi with his first chance, he glanced a header home to seal a routine win for Belgium – just their second in six games.
What does it mean? More info for Martinez
Having opted to leave out any players with 50 caps or more, Martinez used the past two games to get a closer look at the fringe players in the Belgium set-up.
In truth there have been few standouts across the matches, making it unlikely that Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Yannick Carrasco, Eden Hazard, Dries Mertens and Romelu Lukaku will have to worry about losing their spots any time soon.
Vanaken stakes his claim
After an assist and a goal against Ireland, Vanaken was on target once more for Belgium. He said prior to the match he wanted to prove he deserves a place in the squad for the World Cup and it will be hard for Martinez to leave him out if he remains fit.
De Ketelaere off the boil
Much has been made of Charles De Ketelaere’s potential but he failed to deliver against the Republic of Ireland and Burkina Faso. He supplied one key pass but only made 15 successful passes in his 53 minutes on the pitch – Batshuayi was Belgium’s only outfielder with fewer at that point.
What’s next?
Belgium begin their Nations League campaign against Netherlands on June 3, the first of four games in 11 days.
