Live updates as Belgium face England in the World Cup third-place playoff in St. Petersburg. See the text below for all the action and reaction as it happens.
14 July 2018
Belgium's class told today, with Kevin De Bruyne in particular being in sublime form in midfield.
England toiled, but the Three Lions were ultimately toothless and bowed out in defeat.
Plenty still to work on for Gareth Southgate's team, but progress nonetheless from the embarrassments of Brazil 2014 and the European Championships in 2016.
For Belgium, it was a golden chance at World Cup glory gone begging for the golden generation, but at least they finished on a high.
You can read our full match report here.
Goodbye for now - but be sure to join us for full coverage of the big one between France and Croatia tomorrow.
Full-time: Belgium 2-0 England
The Belgians clinch third place at Russia 2018. Hugs all-round from the players, their World Cup race is run.
3 minutes of added time in St. Petersburg.
88 mins: Belgium comfortable now with that two-cushion, seeing this out with ease.
85 mins: Wonderful block from John Stones to deny Kevin De Bruyne as Belgium break again. Stones has been brilliant today - and indeed for much of the tournament for England. Just that blemish to his name that allowed Mario Mandzukic to slip in for the Croatian winner on Wednesday.
84 mins: England with a change, Dele Alli comes on for Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Chelsea man had a solid game, and is definitely one for the future for the Three Lions.
Eden Hazard seals it for Belgium with his third goal of Russia 2018. De Bruyne plays him in, past a flailing Phil Jones, and Hazard slots cooly past Pickford. That was always the danger for England, pressing forward and leaving themselves exposed at the back.
GOAL! Belgium 2-0 England
80 mins: Brilliant attack from Belgium, brilliant save from Pickford. Meunier looks to add a second when he meets a cross full on the volley, but Pickford saves athletically to his right. Great play all round there.
Decent attendance in St. Petersburg today - a few empty seats, but the official turnout is very healthy at least.
76 mins: Into the last 15 minutes in St. Petersburg, England still pressing, not allowing the game to peter out at least, but Belgium dangerous on the counter, as they show with a lightning attack that ends with a shot well wide.
70 mins: Chance!! Brilliant, brilliant defending by Toby Alderweireld to deny Tottenham teammate Eric Dier. Dier breaks free, dinks the ball over Courtois and it looks destined for the back of the net, before Alderweireld slides back to clear it off the line. Wonderful defending.
69 mins: England enjoy a spell of possession that leads to an effort from range by Eric Dier. Never troubling Courtois in the Belgian net, but better from the Three Lions so far this half.
65 mins: Romelu Lukaku's departure means one less competitor for the Golden Boot for England's Harry Kane.
Kane hasn't looked like scoring today, but still leads the way on 6 goals.
French pair Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe are on three apiece and have the final tomorrow, but it would take some going to catch the England man now.
62 mins: Lovely last-ditch tackle by Fabian Delph to prevent Thomas Meunier from crossing from a dangerous position for Belgium. Eden Hazard again instrumental in the build-up there. He and Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings today.
60 mins: Change for Belgium. Romelu Lukaku makes way for Dries Mertens. The Belgian number 9 should have bagged a couple today, but his first touch let him down. I'll pass the word on to RT World Cup guest host Jose Mourinho, his boss at Manchester United...
56 mins: Romelu Lukaku spurns a golden chance to make it 2-0. He's fed the ball on a plate by a delightful through-ball from Kevin De Bruyne, but the big Manchester United forward's first touch again lets him down and the ball runs to Jordan Pickford in the England goal.
54 mins: England already looking a bit more dangerous at the start of this second half, as Jesse Lingard lashes a volleyed shot-come-cross near the face of the goal, which Harry Kane can't quite get on the end of despite being at full stretch.
52 mins: First yellow card of the game as John Stones is penalized for hacking away at Eden Hazard, probably out of frustration as he chases the elusive Chelsea man.
51 mins: England win a free-kick on the right, Trippier whips a devlish delivery into the Red Devils' box, but Vertonghen clears for a corner - which is claimed with ease by Courtois when the ball comes in.
49 mins: Marcus Rashford is already injecting some much-needed pace into the English attack. England looked a bit leggy in the first half - they've had one day fewer to recover after their semi-final, remember.
Second half: We're back underway in St. Petersburg.
Two changes at half-time for England: Jesse Lingard on for Danny Rose, Marcus Rashford on for Raheem Sterling. Both the departees had first halves to forget.
Half-time: Belgium 1-0 England
Belgium good value for their lead in St. Petersburg and have been much more threatening in attack.
England still in it, but will need to offer more going forward in the second half, as well as try to get a grip on midfield.
46 mins: Romelu Lukaku finds himself one on one with John Stones, but the England defender shows the Belgian to the outside and then blocks his shot. Good defending, but poor from England to leave Stones one v one there.
45 mins: Pretty much all one-way traffic at the moment, De Bruyne the latest to test the England defence but his shot is blocked on the edge of the box.
43 mins: Approaching half-time in St. Petersburg, little sign of England getting back into this game, Belgium dominating midfield in particular which was always the concern for England with the personnel changes in the center of the park.
39 mins: Nacer Chadli is in fact not OK to continue for Belgium, and is forced to make way for Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen.
37 mins: Nacer Chadli - supplier of the cross for the goal - is down on the floor for Belgium with some looks of concern from his teammates over what looks like a muscle injury, but he's back on his feet and seems OK to continue.
34 mins: Chance for Belgium as Toby Alderweireld volleys the ball over the bar from a corner with his back to goal. Good improvisation there from the center-back to divert the ball over his body and toward goal - but it's about a yard over the bar.
30 mins: Belgium still probing away at the England backline. The Three Lions defence is looking a bit more stable, but will need constant vigilence to marshal the talents of Hazard and De Bruyne in particular.
24 mins: Chance! Harry Kane has an opportunity to level the scores and put further daylight between him and Romelu Lukaku in the Golden Boot race, but he fires wide after a layoff from Raheem Sterling on the egde of the box.
Kane appeared to slip as he made contact, with the ball bouncing into the ground and well wide.
22 mins: Mid-way through the first half in St. Petersburg. England with 65% of the ball but Belgium looking much more dangerous on the attack - as evidenced by the 1-0 scoreline.
18 mins: A passage of pressure from England.
First, they try to work an opening as Man City pair Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling exchange pasess on the edge of the Belgian box, but Sterling is swamped out. Ruben Loftus-Cheek then bursts clear on the right, but his cut-back is cleared for a corner - which Harry Maguire meets but heads straight at Thibaut Courtois. Better from the Three Lions.
17 mins: Lukaku the latest to attempt to find a way through for Belgium after being played in, but his first touch lets him down and Pickford rushes out to smother the ball. England looking ropey here.
Belgium sharing around the goalscorers at the World Cup
13 mins: Belgium looking much the livelier here as Eden Hazard tries to carve his way through the England backline before being crowded out and Phil Jones clears.
12 mins: Belgium close to doubling their lead as the ball falls to Kevin De Bruyne in the box after a failed England clearance, but his shot is deflected and Jordan Pickford gets a hand to it.
10 mins: England win a free-kick on the left, which Kieran Trippier floats into the box, but it's over everyone's heads and drifts out. England waking up a bit now.
9 mins: Kevin De Bruyne looks to break for Belgium but England clear their lines. Belgium looking dangerous in the opening stages.
4 mins: Perfect start for Belgium as Thomas Meunier steals in to poke the ball past Jordan Pickford from a cross from the left.
Straightforward stuff from Belgium - a long ball up the pitch from Thibaut Courtois is headed on, Romelu Lukaku feeds the ball to Nacer Chadli on the left, who crosses for Tielemans to poke home, with the winger having beat Danny Rose to the ball.
GOAL! Belgium 1-0 England
2 mins: Early doors, but England passing the ball around serenely in the opening stages. Belgium in no rush to press so far.
Kick-off: We're underway at Saint Petersburg Stadium - England in red, Belgium in yellow. Who can end their World Cup campaign on a high?
The anthems are done, the teams are shaking hands, there's around 3 minutes to go till kick-off in St. Petersburg....
Around 5 minutes to go until kick-off in St. Petersburg.
Before we get underway, here's some info on third-place playoff games down the years:
- Today's encounter is the 10th all-European third-place playoff
- 71 goals have been scored in this fixture down the years - an average of 3.9 goals per game
- The most frequent scores are 3-2 and 2-1, which have occured four times each, while 1-0 has been posted three times
- The highest-scoring 3rd-place playoff was between France and West Germany in 1958, which ended 6-3 to the French
FANS SAY 3RD-PLACE GAME MATTERS
RT Sport's Danny Armstrong is in St. Petersburg reporting on the game today. He spoke to some England fans ahead of the game who dismissed the notion that the third-place playoff game was meaningless.
HEAD TO HEAD
England have by far the better record in meetings between the two teams, winning 15 of the 22 games between the pair, with Belgium prevailing just twice – the last time being in the 1-0 group stage win in Russia – and the pair playing out five draws.
Both nations lost the last time they featured in a World Cup third-place playoff, with England going down 2-1 to Italy in 1990, and Belgium losing 4-2 to France in extra time four years prior to that.
TEAM NEWS
Here’s the team news for you ahead of kick-off in just under 20 minutes’ time.
Not as many changes as some may have predicted, indicating both managers are taking the game seriously.
Belgian boss Roberto Martinez sticks with the big guns of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku as the front three, while Gareth Southgate keeps Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling up front, although fields a much-changed midfield with Eric Dier starting alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fabian Delph.
Kieran Trippier is a surprise inclusion for England at right-back, meaning he’s suitably recovered from the groin injury that saw him limp off in the closing stages against Croatia in the semi-final. Phil Jones comes in at center-back in place of Kyle Walker.
FAMILIAR FACES
These two teams know each other well, with many of the players from the two squads hailing from teams in the English Premier League.
The players were seen mixing on the pitch at Saint Petersburg Stadium, including Manchester City’s Belgian stars Kevin De Bruyne and Vincent Kompany, and English teammates John Stones and Fabian Delph.
The two teams also met in the group stage at the World Cup, when Belgium ran out 1-0 winners thanks to an Adnan Januzaj winner. Both teams fielded much-changed line-ups in that game, having already booked their places in the knockout stages.
WELCOME
We’ve reached the final weekend of the Russia 2018 World Cup.
What a magical journey it's been, but before we bid farewell to Russia, there's the matter of the third-place playoff in St. Petersburg between Belgium and England, before the big one in Moscow between France and Croatia tomorrow.
Today’s game is “one that no team wants to play in,” according to England boss Gareth Southgate, although we suspect that might go out of the window come kick-off in around 30 minutes' time.
There’s also the small matter of the subplot involving the Golden Boot battle between England’s Harry Kane, who leads the way on six goals, and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku, who stands on four goals but will be aiming to catch the England man today.