Belgium 0-0 North Macedonia: Red Devils can't break deadlock in goalless draw

Belgium failed to leapfrog North Macedonia to the top of Group J in World Cup qualifying after playing out a 0-0 draw at Planet Group Arena.

Match Report

The Red Devils threw everything they had at the visitors, producing 2.84 expected goals (xG) from 25 shots to North Macedonia's 0.06 from just three attempts, but Stole Dimitrievski's five saves helped his side remain at the top of the group, albeit opening the door for Wales to also challenge for first.

Rudi Garcia's side had the ball in the back of the net after 17 minutes through Maxim De Cuyper, but Kevin De Bruyne, who failed to hit the target with two attempts of his own in the first half, mistimed his run before playing the left-back in.

Leandro Trossard missed the best chance of the first period, heading over the bar from close range, while Dimitrievski denied De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku in the early stages of the second half.

Belgium continued to push in front of their home fans, with Hans Vanaken failing to hit the target with a header from De Cuyper's corner before Dimitrievski made another save to deny substitute Malick Fofana.

Fofana also had a golden opportunity to score when Doku's low cross was deflected into his path, but the 20-year-old could not sort his feet out in time as his miscued strike went wide of the left post.

Data Debrief: North Macedonia survive Doku's defiant dribbling

North Macedonia have conceded just twice in six qualifying matches now, but they may be counting their lucky stars in this one after Doku's efforts for Belgium.

The Manchester City winger took the most shots in the match (six), registered the most touches in the box (33, 23 higher than any other player), created the second-most chances (five), completed seven of his nine dribbles and won 10 of his 15 duels.

Both teams remain unbeaten in qualifying, and Belgium still have a game in hand over their counterparts, but a win could have massively strengthened their position at the top of the group. 

Match Events

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Line-ups

Belgium XI: Courtois, De Bruyne, Vanaken, Trossard, Castagne, Nicolas Raskin, Alexis Saelemaekers, Maxim De Cuyper, Doku, Zeno Debast, Arthur Theate

Subs: Witsel, Sels, Meunier, Batshuayi, Mechele, Dodi Lukébakio, Openda, Charles Vanhoutte, Maarten Vandevoordt, Amadou Onana, Malick Fofana, Joaquin Seys

North Macedonia XI: Stefan Ashkovski, Visar Musliu, Stole Dimitrievski, Gjoko Zajkov, Ezgjan Alioski, Tihomir Kostadinov, Bardhi, Elmas, Jani Atanasov, Bojan Miovski, Andrej Stojcevski

Subs: Aleksandar Trajkovski, David Babunski, Darko Velkovski, Isnik Alimi, Dejan Iliev, Igor Aleksovski, Milan Ristovski, Darko Churlinov, Nikola Serafimov, Luka Stankovski, Stefan Despotovski, Elmin Rastoder