The final scoreline of 4-0 may flatter Belgium a bit -- Bosnia and Herzegovina played quite well at times, though not consistently -- but Eden Hazard was excellent throughout and that's some good news for Chelsea considering the star man's indifferent form for the club as of late.
Hazard, once again captaining the national team just as he did during Euro 2016, was instrumental to just about every Belgium attack. He may have only scored one and collected an assist on another, but he was often at his effervescent best, not shying away from taking on defenders. He probably should've won a penalty as well. In case you haven't seen it, here's his goal, Belgium's second on the night after Spahic opened the scoring via an own goal.
At the other end, Bosnia actually out-shot Belgium 14-10, but only managed two on target, both of which were saved by Thibaut Courtois. He even caught a few crosses and high balls into the area, which will remain events of note until he can once again prove to be consistently willing to do them.
Belgium are thus early and clear leaders of their qualifying group, scoring seven and conceding none in their first two games so far. If Hazard's recent international form continues, it will bode well not only for them, but for Chelsea as well.
Eden Hazard has been directly involved in 11 goals (6 goals-5 assists) in his last 11 competitive matches for Belgium @BelRedDevils #belbih
— Gracenote Live (@GracenoteLive) October 7, 2016
Michy Batshuayi unfortunately did not see any match action. Neither did N'Golo Kante for France, who took care of Bulgaria without too many problems.
Earlier in the day, Christian Atsu and Baba Rahman both started as Ghana slumped to a 0-0 home draw versus Uganda. Also, late last night, Willian made a substitute appearance for a bloodied Neymar as Brazil dispatched a rather poor Bolivian side 5-0. Oscar did not feature.
ICYMI: After taking a beating all game long, @neymarjr took biggest blow in 2nd half. There was blood. #Russia2018 https://t.co/tIvGI61ovE
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) October 7, 2016