Origi clinches Belgium progress

Belgium had to rely on a first international goal from 19-year-old striker Divock Origi to settle a tight and often dreary contest against Fabio Capello's Russia side.

- Delaney: Belgium not living up to the hype

- Capello: Russia were unlucky

After having disappointed for much of this match at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium, Chelsea's Eden Hazard finally turned on the style to set up Lille striker Origi for a first-time finish two minutes from time.

Belgium's 1-0 win means they have qualified from Group H, but until the last 10 minutes, this had been an uninspiring match.

Hazard had looked out of sorts and Romelu Lukaku out of form, while Marouane Fellaini failed to make the impact he had in Belgium's opening match against Algeria.

Capello, however, will now have real fears over whether he will be able to take his side into the knockout rounds.

Vincent Kompany made it clear before the game that his team was going to prioritise results over style, and so it proved against a Russian side where all 23 squad members play in their home country; only three of Belgium's do.

Russia could count themselves unfortunate after matching Belgium until the final minutes and nearly breaking the deadlock.

Zenit St Petersburg striker Victor Fayzulin fired in a low curling shot with his left foot, but Thibaut Courtois was able to get a strong arm to it and keep the match scoreless.

Kevin de Bruyne's scorching run took him past three challenges, and the former Chelsea midfielder laid the ball off perfectly for Dries Mertens, who tried to find Lukaku rather than shooting and allowed Russian skipper Vasily Berezutskiy to come to the rescue.

Mertens then ran at the Russian defence himself twice in as many minutes, but on both occasions he sent his shot whistling a yard wide.

It was not all Belgium, however. Maksim Kanunnikov cut in from the left and brought a decent save out of Courtois before Mertens once again beat Dmitry Kombarov, this time via a nutmeg, but Lukaku could not get on the end of this cross either.

Thomas Vermaelen's match then ended after 31 minutes. He had clashed knees with Kompany in the warm-up and was replaced by Jan Vertonghen at left-back.

After being pinned back for a lengthy period, the Russians ended the first half on top.

Fayzulin volleyed over from a corner before Alexander Kokorin missed the best chance of the half, the Dinamo Moscow striker heading wide from the edge of the six-yard box after Denis Glushakov had picked him out beautifully.

The second half also lacked spark, with Russia having half chances when Sergei Ignashevich flicked a header over and substitute Andrey Eshchenko fired in a shot from the right that just missed the far post.

The introduction of Kevin Mirallas for Mertens appeared to change the course of the game.

The Everton midfielder rattled the post from a free kick before Hazard's incisive run promised another chance for Belgium, but his strike was deflected over the bar.

Finally there was another bit of Hazard magic, weaving his way down the right for substitute Origi -- making only his fourth appearance -- to slam home first time.