"The victory is a consequence of a very good performance," said Roberto Martinez, coach of Belgium.

The team who top the group will face Japan in the last 16 round, but, if win, are likely to have a bumpy road ahead against Brazil, France, Portugal or Argentina. However, no team which finished second in the group stages has won the World Cup since 1986.

"You cannot plan the ideal scenario, you've seen big teams already eliminated," he said. "We need to look at ourselves, we are a stronger group than we were before the game. We're facing Japan, we've got to be ready for it."

While England coach Gerath Southgate said that it was an even game. "The players who have played tonight have given absolutely everything and never stopped. Everyone's seen the level that we've been playing at and we've got to keep improving," he said.

Talking about his opponent, he said:"They had better controlled possession than us at times...This was a game that we wanted to win, but the knockout game is the biggest game for a decade for us so we had to make sure our key players were preserved."

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