Olise's late solo goal sinks Belgium for France

Michael Olise settled a stubborn contest in Brussels three minutes from time, racing from his own half before finishing into the bottom corner to give France a 1-0 win over Belgium and a second victory from two under Zinédine Zidane.

Zidane made nine changes from the win over Turkey five days earlier and handed full debuts to Lucas da Cunha, Jérémy Jacquet, Andy Diouf and Esteban Lepaul. France went without Kylian Mbappé, missing through the knee injury he picked up against Turkey, and could not turn their control of the game into goals until Olise took over. He collected the ball on his shoulder inside his own half, drove past a defender and slotted low past Senne Lammens in the 88th minute.

Before that France had hit the woodwork twice. Desiré Doué, the standout performer with five efforts on goal, saw one shot crash off the crossbar, and Da Cunha's left-footed strike came back off the post. Esteban Lepaul, the Rennes forward, also had chances from close range that Lammens kept out.

Belgium's threat came mainly down the flanks. Dodi Lukebakio, a 29-year-old forward with five goals since returning to the national side in March, and Mika Godts, 21, who has one goal for Belgium since April, caused problems without finding a way past an inexperienced French back line.

Da Cunha's performance drew the most attention among the debutants. The Como midfielder, deployed by Zidane as a holding No. 6, kept Youri Tielemans quiet and set the tone with sharp passing, on top of his effort against the post.

France top Group A1 and face Italy on Friday, while Belgium play Turkey. Italy thrashed Turkey 4-1 in the group's other match on the night, with Bastoni, Frattesi, Kayode and Esposito on the scoresheet against a single reply from Barış Alper Yılmaz — a result covered in our pre-match prediction and match report.

A win in Paris on Friday would put Zidane three from three and hand France a strong hand in the group before Belgium's trip to Turkey.