Belgium defeats – Belgium powered past New Zealand 5-1 at BC Place in Vancouver to finish first in the group and move on to the knockout rounds, while New Zealand’s World Cup run ended.
VANCOUVER — The last whistle came at BC Place with the kind of scoreline that doesn’t leave room for doubt: Belgium defeated New Zealand 5-1 in their final World Cup group-stage match.
Belgium’s win sealed top spot in Group H and sent the European team into the knockout round. For New Zealand, it was a painful end. The tournament dreams are gone now, but the emotion in the stadium didn’t disappear with the result.
Fan Andrew Millar. who travelled all the way from the Oceania country to watch his team take on Egypt and Belgium. put it simply after the match: he said he was still “immensely proud” of New Zealand. Millar called the trip “one-in-a-lifetime. ” pointing to how rare this moment is for the men’s team. whose last qualification came in 2010.
On the ground in Vancouver, the crowd told a visible story too. The stadium was sold out with 52,497 spectators, and New Zealand fans appeared outnumbered by Belgium supporters. Even the noise levels carried the divide right before kickoff. when the big screen showed Belgium fans reaching 149 decibels ahead of the 8 p.m. start, compared with 125 decibels from the New Zealand section.
The wider World Cup schedule already moves on at BC Place. This was the fifth World Cup match played in Vancouver, and the venue will now host a round-of-32 knockout game featuring Switzerland on July 2. Another round-of-16 match follows on July 7.
Taken together, Belgium’s decisive performance and the way the crowd rallied around it ended up writing a clear conclusion in Group H—one that New Zealand supporters had to watch from the stands, even as they celebrated what their team achieved to get there in the first place.
Belgium New Zealand World Cup BC Place Group H Vancouver Andrew Millar Switzerland July 2 round-of-32