Third Place Match Recap: England Falter Against Belgium

England and Belgium, two European teams that have under performed in recent competitions, played for a spot on the podium. Belgium got the first goal early on, in the 4th minute, when Thomas Meunier poked home a long, low cross from Nacer Chadli from the left side of the pitch. Romelu Lukaku spaced out the defense, leaving Meunier with plenty of space to score. In the 23rd minute, leading scorer Harry Kane had his shot wide of Belgium's goal, before Belgium nearly made it 2-0 12 minutes later, when Youri Tielemans' cross to Toby Alderweireld resulted in a volley just over the bar. The Three Lions would keep pressuring to find the equalizer in the second half, especially Eric Dier, whose low driven shot in the 69th minute was stopped by keeper Thibaut Courtois. 80 seconds later, Dier found himself one-on-one with Courtois, and while his chipped shot beat the keeper, Alderweireld cleared the ball off the line. Jesse Lingard set up a cross for Dier in the 73rd, but his header steered left of goal. English keeper Jordan Pickford was called into action in the 80th, diving to his right to get a hand on Meunier' side volley. Belgium would clinch third place in the 82nd when Eden Hazard got past the defense after a through-ball from Kevin De Bruyne, and cooly put it past Pickford for the Red Devils' second tally. For England, 4th place this WC marks their best finish since 1990, while Belgium have successfully achieved their best finish as a team in the World Cup.

Alderweireld (#2) clears Dier's (#4) shot off the line to prevent the potential equalizer