SHIZUOKA -- The Red Devils of Belgium qualified for the Round of 16 as runnersup of Group H after a dramatic 3-2 victory over Russia at the Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium on Friday. The seesaw battle revived memories of Belgium's 4-3 extra-time win over the same team in Mexico '86, with Belgium again gaining the upper hand through goals from Johan Walem, Wesley Sonck and Marc Wilmots. Russia replied through Vladimir Beschastnykh and Dmitri Sychev.
"Its great to have beaten Russia to qualify for the next round. I feel very happy about today's result," said Belgian coach Robert Waseige.
"In a football match you can never follow a pre-set scenario. This time we were lucky that one of our substitutes, Wesley Sonck, went on at the right time and managed to score a very important goal," he added.