Romelu Lukaku is very smart – his dummy move to let the soccer ball run on to his teammate showed just how smart and unselfish he is. Will this dummy go down as one of the greatest dummy moves ever in the World Cup? I think so. It’s a wonderful dummy to finish off an amazing counter attack by Belgium.
Especially considering the two runs Lukaku made prior to the dummy move, where he dragged the defenders away, first one way and then another, before he let the ball run to his teammate, Nacer Chadli, to score in the 94th minute.
Oh, and a forward who was desperate to score, who thought he had to take the chance, might force himself to take a bad shot and miss. The smart move was to dummy the ball and let Chadli slot the ball home for the game winner.
But it was more than just a dummy move, it was an incredible counter attack by Belgium to beat Japan. The play started with Thibaut Courtois rolling the ball out perfectly to Kevin De Bruyne, who then dribbled up the field at pace and made the pass outside, and the weight of the pass by De Bruyne….was just perfect.
De Bruyne plays the ball way out in front of the attacker on the wing so he doesn’t have to break stride or wait for the ball – the pass actually leads him forward to make the next play.
Nacer CHADLI – HYUNDAI GOAL OF THE TOURNAMENT – NOMINEE