World Cup 2026: Belgium Hammer New Zealand 5-1 to Win Group G

Red Devils' manita books a Round of 32 ticket

In a Group G finale at the World Cup 2026, Belgium dismantled New Zealand 5-1 at BC Place in Vancouver on a partly cloudy day around 16°C. The scoreline tells most of the story, and the underlying numbers back it up: Belgium piled up 3.64 expected goals (xG, a measure of chance quality) to New Zealand's 0.24, created four big chances to none, and fired 10 shots on target against two.

Leandro Trossard set the tone with a first-half opener and added a second early after the break. Kevin De Bruyne then curled in the kind of trademark strike that gets headlines, and substitute Romelu Lukaku capped his cameo with a goal and an assist as the Belgians ran away with it late. New Zealand did manage a moment of their own through Eli Just, but it was a consolation in a one-sided afternoon.

The result sends Belgium top of Group G with five points and into the Round of 32. For New Zealand, the heavy defeat leaves them bottom on a single point with a goal difference of -6, and the data lists them as eliminated from the group stage.

How the two sides lined up in Vancouver

From Trossard's 28th-minute spark to a stoppage-time fifth

Belgium took control in the 28th minute when Trossard opened the scoring, and the half-time whistle did nothing to slow them down. Rudi Garcia's side doubled the lead five minutes after the restart, Trossard again, this time set up by Hans Vanaken, even as New Zealand rolled the dice with a double change at the break and picked up a yellow card for Marko Stamenic.

The middle stretch belonged to De Bruyne, whose 66th-minute strike made it 3-0 and effectively settled it. New Zealand kept swinging, rotating their lineup and grabbing a deserved goal through Just in the 84th minute to make it 3-1. But Belgium's fresh legs had the final word: Lukaku, on for Charles De Ketelaere, struck almost immediately in the 86th from a Nicolas Raskin assist, then turned provider for Alexis Saelemaekers deep into stoppage time to complete the manita. Two yellow cards for New Zealand and a clean disciplinary sheet for Belgium rounded out the afternoon.

The right team, just not the right scoreline

The futbol.so community was firmly in Belgium's corner, and the official forecast agreed, making the Red Devils the heavy favourites to win. So the direction of the result was nailed on both counts.

Where reality went off-script was the margin. The most-picked scoreline leaned toward a tight 1-0 Belgium win, and fans in Colombia and Argentina shared that cautious read. Instead, Belgium blew the doors off for a 5-1 result, the exact scoreline the official model from Highlightly happened to call. Predicting the winner was the easy part; predicting five goals was another thing entirely.

Belgium leave Group G as winners and head into the Round of 32 with momentum, a healthy goal difference, and reasons for optimism after spreading the scoring across four different players. New Zealand's tournament ends here, but Just's goal at least gave their supporters a moment to hold onto. Next up: the knockout draw, where the Red Devils' attacking depth will face a much sterner test.