FIFA World Cup 2018: Lukaku scores twice as Belgium prove too strong for Panama

Romelu Lukaku netted a brace as a muchimproved secondhalf performance gave Belgium an ultimately comfortable 30 victory over tournament debutants Panama in their World Cup opener in Sochi todayA moment of inspiration from Dries Mertens set the Belgians on their way two minutes after the break his volley breaking the deadlock after a rather flat first periodLukaku then converted assists from Kevin De Bruyne and captain Eden Hazard to secure victory in this Group G clash with the Central Americans succumbing to a defeat in their firstever match at the finalsGroup rivals England will look to respond to Belgiums win when they kick off their campaign against Tunisia but this was not entirely the statement of intent that Roberto Martinezs side would have been hoping to makeA victory will do for a team who are on paper at least good enough to go far in Russia especially after heavyweights Germany Brazil and Argentina all slipped up over the weekendBelgium are now unbeaten in 20 matches although the nature of the firsthalf performance against weak opposition showed that Martinezs men still have significant progress to make if they are to improve on quarterfinal appearances at the last two major tournamentsTo be fair to Martinez the Spaniard had warned on the eve of this game that his side would not have it easy The Central Americans lined up with a team of journeymen featuring five thirtysomethings Jaime Penedo in goal is 36 while Blas Perez up front is 37 But while the Belgians had the younger talented players other factors played in Panamas favourThe heat and humidity on Russias Black Sea coast was one as was the fact their supporters greatly outnumbered those following the BelgiansThe locals at the Fisht Stadium got behind the outsiders too and they were given encouragement as Hernan Dario Gomezs side competed well in the first periodHazard pulled the strings when he could although the Chelsea star was denied by Penedo in the 38th minute having earlier found the sidenetting when a slack backpass from opposing captain Roman Torres gifted him the chanceAt the other end Panama tried to expose Belgiums potential weaknesses at fullback However they struggled to score goals in qualifying and rarely looked capable of beating Thibaut CourtoisBelgium just needed a spark from somewhere and they got it from Mertens in the 47th minute The Napoli mans cross looking for Lukaku was headed out by Torres and on by Fidel Escobar But the ball dropped perfectly back to Mertens whose volley from the right side of the box arced into the far cornerPanama sought to regroup and rightback Michael Murillo came surging forward to finally force a save from CourtoisBut the gulf in class began to tell as Belgium doubled their lead midway through the second half Hazard found De Bruyne and his sumptuous cross with the outside of the right boot was headed in by LukakuWith Panama forced to throw more bodies forward they were punished on the break a quarter of an hour from the endThis time Hazard released Lukaku and the Manchester United man beat Penedo to complete the scoring and take him to five goals at major tournaments as Belgium get up and runningCatch up on all the latest T20 news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever