Belgium rounded off their World Cup preparations in the most emphatic fashion possible, dismantling Tunisia 5-0 in Brussels on Saturday to head to North America with momentum, confidence and the encouraging sight of Romelu Lukaku continuing his return to fitness.
Jeremy Doku was the standout performer of the evening, tormenting the Tunisian defence throughout with his pace and trickery on the left wing and laying on two goals in a display that underlined why he could be one of the players of the tournament. Leandro Trossard, Charles De Ketelaere, Kevin De Bruyne, Dodi Lukebakio and Nicolas Raskin were the scorers as Belgium cruised to a victory that was never in doubt from the moment they took control in the first half.
Doku’s brilliance drove the opening two goals. He created a simple tap-in for Trossard before Youri Tielemans crossed for De Ketelaere to head home from close range. Such was the difficulty Tunisia had in containing the Manchester City winger that midfielder Ismael Gharbi was shown a second yellow card in the 62nd minute for a lunge on Doku, reducing the North Africans to ten men.
Three minutes later Doku turned provider again, setting up De Bruyne to drive home from outside the box and make it 3-0. Lukebakio scrambled in a fourth from Lukaku’s touch before Raskin added the fifth to complete a thoroughly satisfying evening for Domenico Tedesco’s side.
Lukaku came off the bench for the final 25 minutes, adding an assist to the goal he scored on his return against Croatia on Tuesday. The 33-year-old did not make a single start for Napoli in Serie A this season, making his two encouraging cameos in the space of four days a significant boost for Belgium’s World Cup ambitions. Captain Tielemans had already made clear after the Croatia win that Belgium would need Lukaku very badly, and his progression in Brussels will have done much to settle those concerns.
Belgium open their Group G campaign against Egypt in Seattle on 15 June, with Iran and New Zealand also in their section. Tunisia face a considerably more testing group, placed alongside Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands in Group F.
