Belgium warm up with Sweden success

Belgium gave a demonstration of their encouraging form ahead of the FIFA World Cup by overcoming Sweden 2-0 in Solna, thanks to goals from Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard.

Visiting coach Marc Wilmots started with a slightly different lineup to the one that swept aside Luxembourg 5-1 on Monday, with Daniel Van Buyten, Mousa Dembélé and Dries Mertens starting the match at the Friends Arena. It was Lukaku who hit the opener on 34 minutes, though, before Hazard doubled the advantage 12 minutes from time.

The Diables Rouges made a quick impression and nearly took the lead with a quarter of an hour gone, when Kevin De Bruyne's curling free-kick struck the crossbar. Having hit a hat-trick against Luxembourg, Lukaku then shot over, but he gave Belgium the lead with a magnificent effort from 20 metres out that flew into the top-left corner of Andreas Isaksson's goal.

After the interval, Dembélé tried his luck with an attempt that lacked sufficient power to surprise Isaksson, before Sweden went close through Erkan Zengin, whose shot clipped the bar. Belgium eventually found the net for a second time following a neat exchange between Hazard and De Bruyne, the Chelsea FC schemer advancing down the left and picking out his colleague in the middle, who returned it with his heel and watched as Hazard buried a shot from the edge of the area.

At the other end, Thibaut Courtois demonstrated his worth once again with two fine saves, while De Bruyne connected with a post in added time. Belgium continue their World Cup preparations against Tunisia on Saturday, before opening their Group H bid against Algeria on 17 June.