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BELGIUM DOMINATES POLAND IN STATEMENT NATIONS LEAGUE WIN



Five days after suffering a 4-1 shellacking by the archrival Netherlands — a defeat that left many wondering if the No. 2-ranked Red Devils really have what it takes to lift the World Cup later this year — Belgium responded in convincing fashion Wednesday, with a 6-1 comeback victory over Poland in both teams’ second match of the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League.To get more news about VeboTV, you can visit vebobd.live official website.

Polish star Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring against the run of play in the 26th minute, but Roberto Martinez’s team, which squandered several chances to take an early lead in Brussels, equalized through Axel Witsel before the first half was over.In the second half, the hosts dominated, eventually turning the match into a farce with five unanswered strikes from Kevin De Bruyne, Leander Dendoncker, Lo?s Openda and two from Leandro Trossard.
Everyone knows how talented Roberto Martinez’s squad is. With all-world players at every position and backups who would start for just about any other national team, their quality has never been in question. Their commitment to winning this tournament, on the other, hand, certainly was after they fell behind at home for the second game in a row.

Before losing to the Dutch, star Manchester City midfielder De Bruyne raised eyebrows when he publicly disparaged the four-year-old Nations League, Europe’s second-most prestigious event for national teams following the quadrennial Euros.

"For me, the Nations League is unimportant," he said. "Just glorified friendlies after a long and tough season. I am not looking forward to it."

De Bruyne and his teammates looked like they didn’t want to be there last week, especially after veteran forward Romelu Lukaku went down with an injury, underscoring De Bruyne’s concerns about the load the competition places on players.

But the Belgians were on the front foot from the opening whistle Wednesday, and they looked every bit like World Cup contenders against a fellow Qatar-bound foe who just happened to have the player voted FIFA’s best the past two years, Lewandoswki. The Poles' second-half capitulation Wednesday was even more alarming, considering that they had a full week to recover after beating Wales in Warsaw on June 1.

They won’t get much more rest this month. Lewandowski and his mates next must travel to Rotterdam to face the Netherlands — who scored deep into second-half stoppage time Wednesday to beat the Welsh — before returning home to take on this same Belgian squad next week.Those two matches will be even more difficult for Poland after one of the most lopsided losses in their history in Belgium’s capital. They don’t need to rebound quite as emphatically as their opponents did Wednesday, but they need to do whatever is necessary to rebuild their confidence before the summer break.

If not, they risk going into the second half of a World Cup year with their morale badly damaged — hardly a recipe for success at the sport’s highest level.