GLASGOW -- Belgium coach Robert Waseige
hailed his side for finding the mental toughness to come back
and snatch a 2-2 World Cup draw against Scotland at Hampden Park
on Saturday.
Substitute Daniel van Buyten rescued Belgium -- who played
for more than an hour with 10 men after Eric Deflandre's
dismissal -- with an equaliser two minutes into injury time of
the European group six match.
The Scots, who had been 2-0 up through a Billy Dodds double,
seemed certain to assume leadership of the group until defender
van Buyten rose to head in Sven Vermant's cross from 10 metres
for his first international goal.
Both countries now have eight points from four games and
Waseige declared: "I was really pleased with the mentality of my
team because, even at 0-2, they still believed and still fought
for the game.
"The game could have ended pretty badly after we went behind
so quickly, because Scotland had a lot of chances so a draw is a
good result for us."
Scotland coach Craig Brown was visibly stunned by Belgium's
comeback, saying: "The manner and the timing of their equaliser
makes it pretty heartbreaking for us. It is a real psychological
blow, but we will pick ourselves up."
Yet, after half an hour it seemed as if the only question
would surround Scotland's winning margin as they surged ahead.
Dodds struck after just 70 seconds, finishing off a fine
move involving Colin Hendry, Don Hutchison and Craig Burley,
whose low cross was steered in by the Rangers striker from six
metres with a glancing shot.
Dodds made it 2-0 in 29 minutes when Hendry's header from
Burley's corner was blocked on the line by Deflandre, using his
arms. The defender was sent off before Dodds coolly sent
goalkeeper Geert De Vlieger the wrong way from the penalty for
his sixth international goal.
Scotland then wasted many chances to put the game beyond
Belgium, most crucially on 56 minutes when Barry Ferguson shot
straight at De Vlieger when Dominic Matteo put the midfielder
through on goal.
Within two minutes Marc Wilmots had given Belgium a glimmer
of hope, heading a cross from substitute Bob Peeters past
goalkeeper Neil Sullivan.
But Scotland still looked more likely to score again until
van Buyten's intervention.
Later the Belgian hero said: "If we had lost here, it would
have been over for us. Now I think we are strong favourites to
win the group."
But Waseige warned: "It might be even tougher for us in
Brussels against Scotland, because they perform well away from
home and will have less pressure than today."
Balaban's hat-trick leads Croatia to 4-1 win over Latvia
OSIJEK, Croatia -- Bosko Balaban scored a
hat-trick in the first half to lead Croatia to a 4-1 victory
over Latvia in a World Cup European group six qualifier on
Saturday.
It was Balaban's fifth international appearance and his
first hat-trick and gave coach Mirko Jozic victory in his first
match in charge of Croatia, who strengthened their hand in the
group.
Croatia moved ahead of Latvia into third place in group six
with five points from three games. Scotland and Belgium, who
drew 2-2 in Glasgow, both have eight points from four games.
Dinamo Zagreb striker Balaban, reported to be heading for
Olympique Marseille, opened the scoring in the eighth minute
when he received a pass from Robert Prosnecki some 25 metres
out, took a step forward and fired into the top left-hand corner
of Aleksandrs Kolinko's net.
The second goal came in the 43rd minute after the Latvian
defence failed to clear a long ball from Croatian goalkeeper
Stipe Pletikosa.
Balaban beat Kolinko from the edge of the penalty area with
a well-measured shot which went in off the post.
Two minutes later Balaban made a solo break to take a
perfect defence-splitting pass from Lecce striker Davor Vugrinec
and send a cool lob over Kolinko to complete his hat-trick.
Latvia, who had threatened a few times in the first half,
pulled a goal back on the hour when Andrejs Stolcers scored
after a fast break.
Croatia sealed victory a minute from time when Vugrinec
collected a loose ball in the area and found the net from 10
metres with a fierce low shot.
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