Belgium made a comfortable 1-0 win over debutants New Zealand and will meet a strong Italian side at the quarter-finals of Beijing Olympic men's soccer tournament?in Shanghai?on Wednesday.
It was a big surprise that the Belgians only scored one goal after a lopsided game. Midfielder Faris Haroun jumped high inside the box to hammer in a 35-minute corner to seal victory.
Belgium has got six points after two straight wins and qualified as second-placed team of Group C, bowing to favorites Brazil, who picked three wins to play against Cameroon in the next round.
New Zealand have to go home after the loss. With only a 1-1 draw from hosts China in the opening game, the Kiwis finally sit on bottom of Group C with one point.
Belgium dominated the whole match with advantage in almost every aspect. And the passive Kiwis should thank their keeper Jacob Spoonley, as well as the Belgian attackers to avoid big defeat.
Spoonley might hardly remember how many saves he made during the difficult 90 minutes, and he concentrated well to defend their dignity.
Belgium's Sevilla winger Tom De Mul had some tricky performance in the second half, and had a thunderbolt against the crossbar from 30 meters in the 81st minute.
New Zealand had a golden chance on 74 minutes, when striker Chris Killen collected a square pass from the left and rounded a defender, before firing a sharp shot to be blocked by a diving Logan Bailly.
(Xinhua News Agency August 13,2008)