The victory belongs to the "Red Devils".

In preparation for the World Cup campaign taking place in two weeks, two fierce rivals, Croatia and Belgium, had a "test match" on the night of June 2nd. And the final result saw victory go to the "Red Devils".

Belgium has always been a team with many stars playing in Europe, but they have yet to win a major title . The " Red Devils" were eliminated in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and in the round of 16 at Euro 2024. And at the 2026 World Cup, the man tasked with bringing home a major title is coach Rudi Garcia. Under the guidance of the former Lyon and Napoli coach, the " Red Devils " have shown impressive attacking power and extended their unbeaten streak to 11 matches across all competitions. Rudi Garcia 's team has scored 38 goals recently . Notably, in their campaign to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, the French strategist has led the " Red Devils " to 7 wins in 12 matches under his leadership. As a result, his team topped their World Cup qualifying group with an unbeaten record and successfully avoided relegation in the Nations League after defeating Ukraine 4-3 in the play-off. However, conceding three goals to Ukraine shows that Belgium's defense is no longer as solid as before, a weakness that the " Red Devils " need to address immediately. Therefore, the friendly match against a team with a strong attack like Croatia is not simply a walk in the park, but a real battle if Belgium hopes for a more successful World Cup campaign than previous World Cups.

On the Croatian side, the checkered-striped team has always been on the podium but has never won the championship. This summer, Croatia will travel to North America with two silver and one bronze medal from major tournaments over the past eight years, including two deep runs in the World Cup and one runner- up finish in the Nations League. The man behind these achievements is Zlatko Dalic, who is still in charge of the team. In their World Cup qualifying campaign, the native strategist led his home team to a near-perfect run, with seven wins and one draw in eight group stage matches. At this year's World Cup finals, Croatia will face England, Panama, and Ghana in a highly anticipated Group L match in almost two weeks, with their opening match against England considered crucial in determining the group winner. That's why Croatia chose Belgium as their opponent to test their strength, because the "Red Devils " are the only ones worthy of a warm-up match against the checkered-shirted team before they embark on the biggest campaign on the planet.

It can be said that Belgium and Croatia are two teams with many world- class stars, however, they have never reached the pinnacle of a major tournament. Therefore, in this friendly match, which served as a "test," both teams treated it as an official match and played very cautiously . In a closely contested and tactical game, the deadlock was broken in the 38th minute. A breakthrough by Doku created an opportunity for Tielemans to finish from close range , opening the scoring. This was also the only goal in the first half. In the second half, Croatia proactively pushed forward in attack to find a goal . Unfortunately, their most dangerous opportunity was a header by Budimir, which was denied by the crossbar of the "Red Devils" goal. On the Belgian side, the visitors also had clear chances, but their strikers... Both " Red Devils" missed their chances. Just when it seemed the match would end with a single goal, Lukaku scored in the 90+5th minute to seal a 2-0 victory for Belgium. This win against a very strong team like Croatia gave Belgium a perfect start before embarking on their World Cup campaign.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/chien-thang-thuoc-ve-bay-quy-do-445783.html