El Tri started the game brightly with plenty of willingness to run at the Red Devils’ defence and were rewarded with the lead after 19 minutes. Following a corner on the left flank, the ball found itself at the feet of Jorge Sanchez, and the full-back bundled the ball home from six yards out to edge Mexico in front and secure his third goal for his country.
Javier Aguirre’s side continued to impress and came close to doubling their advantage shortly after the half-hour mark, when Julian Quinones was denied twice. The Al-Qadsiah forward saw his first effort superbly blocked when in a great position, before, on the very next attack, his shot from just inside the box forced a decent save from Matz Sels.
Rudi Garcia had much to ponder over at the interval, with his Belgian side only registering one attempt in the whole of the first half. Whatever he said at HT though seemed to do the trick, as the Red Devils flew out of the blocks as soon as the second half began.
Remarkably, Belgium levelled the match less than a minute after the restart, as Dodi Lukebakio received a pass from Youri Tielemans and fired the ball into the back of the net with a majestic finish from 20 yards.
Strangely though, the remainder of the contest was a somewhat subdued affair with very few chances of any kind created for either side. The tempo and intensity that El Tri displayed in the first half simply disappeared after HT, while the Red Devils could not find further inspiration following Lukébakio’s wonder strike.
A string of substitutions were made from both head coaches midway through the second half to try and remedy the lull in play, but, ultimately, nothing could separate the two teams at the end of this international window.
Following the draw, Mexico are now unbeaten in their last five matches and are next in action on Friday 22nd May when they host Ghana in a friendly under a month before the start of the WC. Meanwhile, Belgium will aim to return to winning ways on Tuesday 2nd June when they face Croatia away from home in a vital friendly before their WC campaign begins.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jorge Sanchez (Mexico)
