7 thoughts on Belgium’s perfect, last-minute, game-winning goal to beat Japan

In the fourth minute of extra time in Belgium’s thrilling win over Japan in the World Cup Round of 16, the match was still tied, and Japan had a corner kick. They sent it in, the Belgium goalkeeper collected it ... and a few seconds later, Belgium had run the entire length of the field and won the match.

It was an incredible moment in an incredible comeback, and it was as beautiful a counter-attack as you will ever see in a soccer game. Let’s watch it, then let’s break down exactly what happened here.

You can’t quite see it in the video above, but Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois needs a ton of credit for starting this off. When Japan sends in a corner kick, Courtois collects and pushes the pace immediately, sprinting to the top of his box, identifying De Bruyne and getting the ball into his feet. His awareness and quick decision-making start the whole thing off here. Now De Bruyne can take the ball in stride, and the counter attack is on.

De Bruyne could have settled when he had it. Pulled up a little, identified his options. He could have passed it to a teammate, tired after running around for 90 minutes. He didn’t. He had one thought on his mind, and that was dribbling up the field hard and getting Belgium that third, winning goal. He doesn’t give Japan a moment to get back and get organized, doesn’t risk a long ball that might connect. He is the quarterback of this team, and he wanted the ball at his feet. So he took it, and dribbled it hard up the middle of the field.

De Bruyne’s run with the ball would have meant nothing, however, if he wasn’t aided by the initial run from Lukaku. It’s Lukaku who doesn’t settle for running in a straight line, but instead makes a hard run across the face of De Bruyne, thus forcing the Japan defender into making a tough decision — stay with the striker, or stay left to deal with the onrunning Meunier. The defender chose to stay with Lukaku, but it was irrelevant ... once Lukaku forced him to make a decision, De Bruyne just had to choose the open option, and De Bruyne doesn’t mess those decisions up.

De Bruyne could have messed the pass up, though. He didn’t. He carries the ball just long enough to force a defender to commit, then hits the perfectly weighted through ball, guiding Meunier into the danger area without allowing the ball to be intercepted by a defender. This pass forces the man previously covering to Lukaku to abandon him, and now it’s all but over.

Still, Meunier has to play that ball, and Lukaku has to have that moment of brilliance to dummy the thing. That’s an underratedly really hard decision to make in that instance. Yes, Lukaku knows Chadli is coming behind him, but dummies are dangerous. You can’t really see what’s behind you. Maybe another defender you didn’t catch got back and is ready to intercept it if you let the ball run past you. No one would blame Lukaku for trying to force a shot there. But he knew the defense was collapsing on him, and he believed in his teammate, and it worked.

The finish from Chadli was nice. Good kick in, Chadli. What was much better was his run, and his decision to crash hard to the center of goal, not content to stay wide. If he stays wide there, as some wide players instinctively do, maybe he doesn’t get to that ball. He went to the six, and he was there to put it in.

Some of you may be asking: How did Japan’s defense let it happen? Two things happened here, and for one at least, you can celebrate them. The first thing was: Japan went for it. They had a corner in the final minute of the game, and they threw men forward and tried to win the thing. When Courtois busted to the top of his box and threw it to De Bruyne, he was already out ahead of six Japan players. The goalie, with one throw, had taken out half the team.

At that point, Japan were probably already dead. Though there’s one thing they could have, and probably should have, done: They should have tackled the shit out of De Bruyne as soon as he had the ball. Like a football tackle. Form tackle him. Take the yellow card, live to fight another day. They let him run, and then they forced themselves to make decisions, and then Belgium picked them apart. That was it.