Belgium beat England to take third place in World Cup

Belgium justified pre-game favouritism to beat England in the World Cup third-place playoff with a 2-0 win in St Petersburg.

Roberto Martinez sent out a strong side and was rewarded with a fast start as Thomas Meunier opened the scoring before a spirited second-half fightback from England.

However, Belgium always looked dangerous on the counter and Eden Hazard made sure of the victory with eight minutes remaining. The Red Devils can count themselves slightly unfortunate not to have made the final and are 8-1 with bet365 to gain compensation by winning Euro 2020.

There were no goals for Romelu Lukaku which strengthened Harry Kane's chances of winning the Golden Boot despite another quiet game for the six-goal Three Lions skipper.

Kane, a 16-1 shot ante-post to finish as the World Cup's top goalscorer, is 1-200 with Betfair, with only two semi-realistic contenders playing when France face Croatia in Moscow final.

World Cup final

Mark Langdon's match preview

Special bets

Philippe Auclair's view from France

Andy Brassell's verdict

Racing Post football writers have their say

Key battlegrounds

Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe need hat-tricks to even draw level with Kane and are both 100-1 shots with Betway and Betfair. Mbappe is evens to win the Golden Ball for the best player of the World Cup with Croatia's Luka Modric at 2-1 and it's 10-1 bar the front two.

Bet365 are still refunding outright bets on any side eliminated on penalties during the World Cup and offer money back on numerous markets in the final should it finish 0-0 in 90 minutes.

Maurizio Sarri has been named as Chelsea's new coach and Coral go 5-4 that he wins a major trophy in his first campaign and 3-1 that he wins the Premier League during his current three-year contract.

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