France vs Belgium: Late Olise Double Ends a Stubborn Belgian Resistance

France against Belgium looked for 76 minutes like a familiar story of a dominant side running into a disciplined block and a single clinical counter. Dodi Lukebakio put Belgium ahead on 35 minutes from one of their few meaningful attacks, and a 4-2-3-1 built to absorb pressure appeared to be working. Then France scored four times between the 77th and 90th minutes, and the game turned into a lopsided result that flattered neither the scoreline nor the earlier evidence of Belgian resilience.

The numbers show how one-sided the territory was. France held 66% of possession and had 23 shots to Belgium's five, eight of them on target against two. That volume is what eventually told. Zinedine Zidane's 4-3-3 kept pushing Belgium deeper, and Mark van Bommel's side, with Romeo Lavia doing much of the screening work in midfield (he was booked on 57 minutes and rated 7.0), had to defend ever closer to their own box. Belgium made five saves, France just one, which captures how the match was played almost entirely in one half of the pitch.

The cost of that defending showed in the cards. After Lavia's booking, Van Bommel and Joaquin Seys were both cautioned within two minutes of each other, at 73 and 75, as Belgium's shape began to stretch and their challenges came later. Belgium committed eight fouls to France's four, the sign of a team chasing shadows rather than controlling the space. Once the low block loses its compactness, the gaps between lines open, and France had the technicians to exploit them.

Désiré Doue, the standout at 8.9, equalised on 77 minutes, and that goal released the pressure that had built up over more than an hour. Rayan Cherki followed four minutes later to put France ahead, and the collapse was complete once Belgium had to open up. Michael Olise, rated 8.6, then struck twice, in the 88th minute and again in the 90th, punishing a side that had emptied its reserves holding the line. Three goals in 11 minutes, then a fourth in the closing seconds, is the pattern of a defence that held its shape as long as its legs allowed.

For Belgium there is a consolation in Lukebakio, whose 8.1 rating reflected a lone threat that gave his side a genuine lead. But the lesson is about game management: a plan that depends on 90 minutes of concentration against a team producing 23 shots rarely survives. France were patient rather than panicked, kept their structure, and let the volume of chances do the work. The late burst was less a sudden change than the inevitable payoff of relentless pressure, and it turned a tight contest into a four-goal win.