Belgium overcomes Panama 3-0, South Korea suffers 0-1 heartbreak against Sweden
Belgium overcame Panama 3-0 in their World Cup Group G clash in Sochi, with the Red Devils’ class proving too much for the tournament debutants from Central America.
Second-half goals from Dries Mertens and Romelu Lukaku — who bagged two — finally broke Panama after the minnows, roared on by a passionate support, put up 45 minutes of spirited resistance to go in level at the break.
Some great work from Kevin De Bruyne set up Lukaku to head in his first before he dinked in a second after a counter-attack. Belgium were without defensive lynchpin Vincent Kompany but his replacement, Dedryck Boyata, was rarely tested.
VAR-awarded penalty does South Korea in against Sweden
A Video Assistant Referee (VAR)-awarded penalty gave Sweden a narrow but deserved win in their opening Group F match against a poor South Korea side in Nizhny Novgorod on Monday.
Veteran Swedish skipper Andreas Granqvist scored the only goal of the game from the spot after Viktor Claesson was upended by South Korean substitute Kim Min-Woo Kim in the 62nd.
Despite furious appeals, El Salvadorean referee Joel Aguilar, who had ironically been whistle-happy up until that point, initially waved away Swedish penalty claims.
But after consulting the video, he pointed to the spot.
It was the third VAR penalty awarded at these championships after France and Peru also benefitted from video referrals.
The win was reward for Sweden's more attacking approach, but it was unsurprising the winner came from the penalty spot in a game between two sides who had only managed two goals between them in seven games heading into Russia.
Sweden never really convinced that they would score prior to the penalty despite their domination and a toothless South Korea did not manage one shot on target.
The victory leaves Sweden joint top of the group after Mexico’s surprise victory against world champions Germany on Sunday.
Next up for the Swedes is an intriguing encounter against Germany in Sochi on June 23.
