{"id":11204,"date":"2026-06-27T15:09:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/belgium-advances-to-world-cup-knockouts-after-defeating-new-zealand-5-1\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T15:09:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:09:30","slug":"belgium-advances-to-world-cup-knockouts-after-defeating-new-zealand-5-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/belgium-advances-to-world-cup-knockouts-after-defeating-new-zealand-5-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium Advances to World Cup Knockouts After Defeating New Zealand 5-1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Belgium defeated <a href=\"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/tag\/new-zealand\/\" data-ailt=\"1\">New Zealand<\/a> 5-1 on June 27, 2026, securing their place in the knockout rounds of the 2026 World Cup and eliminating New Zealand from the tournament. This victory marked Belgium&#039;s first win in the World Cup, allowing them to finish atop Group G in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p>The match was a decisive display of <a href=\"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/tag\/belgium\/\" data-ailt=\"1\">Belgium<\/a>&#039;s offensive capabilities, with Arsenal&#039;s Leandro Trossard leading the charge by scoring two goals. Other contributors included Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, and Alexis Saelemaekers, who each added to the scoreline, ensuring a comprehensive victory for the European nation.<\/p>\n<p>Belgium&#039;s performance was critical in determining the group standings. They finished first in Group G, ahead of Egypt, who secured the runners-up position after a 1-1 draw with Iran in Seattle. Iran ended the group stage in third place and now faces uncertainty regarding their knockout fate.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand&#039;s Elijah Just managed to score a consolation goal in the 75th minute, which briefly threatened Belgium&#039;s top position in the group. The goal brought the score to 3-1, raising concerns for the Belgian side.<\/p>\n<p>However, Romelu Lukaku quickly restored Belgium&#039;s lead by nodding home a goal in the 86th minute, just after coming on as a substitute. This goal was crucial in reaffirming Belgium&#039;s dominance in the match.<\/p>\n<p>Saelemaekers capped off the scoring with a well-placed shot from the edge of the area, solidifying Belgium&#039;s dominant performance and ensuring their advancement to the last 32 of the tournament. The victory not only highlights Belgium&#039;s strength but also marks a disappointing exit for New Zealand from the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belgium secured a 5-1 victory over New Zealand, advancing to the World Cup knockout stage and eliminating the All Whites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[688,686,354,356,687,431],"class_list":["post-11204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-688","tag-belgium","tag-football","tag-knockout-stage","tag-new-zealand","tag-world-cup"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11207,"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11204\/revisions\/11207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heibola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}