Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne led his country to a thrilling 4-3 victory over visiting Wales on Monday in the fourth round of Group 9 of the European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The result moved Belgium to third place with four points, three points behind second-place Wales, who have played four matches, while Belgium have played only two.
Belgium took the lead in the 15th minute through Romelu Lukaku, before Youri Tielemans doubled the lead in the 19th minute, followed by Jeremy Doku in the 27th minute.
Welsh managed to level the score despite trailing by three goals at halftime. Harry Wilson scored a penalty in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, before teammate Surya Thomas scored the second goal in the 51st minute. Brennan Johnson equalized in the 69th minute. But Kevin De Bruyne, the former Manchester City captain and a potential transfer target for Napoli, scored the winning goal for Belgium in the 88th minute, saving his country and French coach Rudi Garcia from a second draw after the 1-1 draw against North Macedonia in the previous round. North Macedonia tops the group with eight points, one point ahead of Wales and four ahead of Belgium. Kazakhstan is in fourth place with three points, followed by Liechtenstein in last place with no points.