Kevin De Bruyne Scores Brace, Belgium Wins Easily Against Israel In Nations League

Belgian captain Kevin De Bruyne celebrated a goal with Jeremy Doku in the match against Israel in the UEFA Nations League. (uefa.com)

JAKARTA - Belgium has no trouble overcoming Israel in League A Group 2 of the UEFA Nations League. Competing in neutral places at the Nagyerdei Stadium, Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, September 7, 2024 in the morning WIB, captain Kevin De Bruyne scored a brace that gave Belgium a 3-1 win over Israel.

Belgium cannot hold a match at home to Israel. The game had to be held in neutral places due to security concerns. The Israeli-Gaza conflict made it difficult for the Belgian football federation to find a safe place to hold matches.

In the aftermath, the federation was forced to move the match to another country. Not only that, the match must be held without spectators.

Playing in neutral does not make Belgium's appearance waver. They are still too strong for Israel, whose level of play is clearly losing compared to elite European teams.

Israel was only able to keep up with Belgium's game for the first 20 minutes. Subsequently, they failed to stem Belgium's bumpy attacks. Even Israel was unable to break into the host's goal.

In that duel, Belgium did not take long to score a goal despite having faced resistance from Israel. De Bruyne opened Belgium's victory after welcoming assist Jeremy Doku, his colleague at Manchester City, in the 21st minute.

Belgium's only 1-0 lead did not last long. Israel managed to equalize in the 36th minute. Not because some of the players scored, but Israel could change the score to 1-1 due to Timothy Castagne's own goal.

Starting from Anan Khalaili's header which then hit Castagne so that the ball turned a direction and was saved by goalkeeper Koen Casteels.

The goal was originally stated by Khalaili who received a cross from Idan Nachmlas. However, UEFA later stated that the goal was Castagne's suicide. The draw lasted until the end of the first half.

Entering the second half, Belgium did not give Israel the opportunity to develop the game. They immediately pressed the opponent's defense.

As a result, Belgium won 2-1 again through youri Tielemans' quick goal. Just three minutes into the game, the Aston Villa midfielder received a pass from Lois Openda and finished with a shot from close range.

Furthermore, Belgium defended the attacking game which made Israel have to defend more. Belgium did not take long to increase the lead after De Bruyne scored his second goal from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute.

Israel was awarded a penalty after centre-back Raz Schlomo brought down Openda in the box. The referee pointed to the spot and De Bruyne completed the execution well.

Only four minutes later, Belgium was again awarded a penalty. Again, Openda was dropped in a restricted area. This time, defender Sagiv Jehezkel made the fatal mistake.

De Bruyne also gave Openda the opportunity to carry out the execution. However, the kick of this RB Leipzig forward was thwarted by goalkeeper Yoav Gerafi.

The score remained 3-1 for Belgium and lasted until the end of the match. The victory made Domenico Tedesco's team pocketed the third point and was ranked second behind Italy.

Although Italy also won with the same score over France, they were placed in first position. The reason is, Italy won at home to the opponent.