Fulham's Castagne misses sitter in Belgium's disappointing draw

By Alessandro Schiavone at Planet Group Arena-Ghent

Timothy Castagne missed the open-goal as Belgium spurned a golden opportunity to climb above North Macedonia after a goalless draw with Blagoja Milevski's high-fliers in Gent.

Ex-Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois was not even tested once as North Macedonia defended with a low block and barely got out of their own-half.

But it goes without saying that the Fulham defender's teammates did not do much better.

Belgium made an auspicious start and controlled the game throughout without managing to find a breakthrough.

De Bruyne had a volley deflected wife while red-hot AC Milan winger Alexis Saelemaekers had a couple of shots blocked here and there. He also blasted a volley over after an immaculate outswinging corner.

Arsenal's Leandro Trossard also sent a header over from Brighton's Maxime De Cuyper's free-kick.

Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne did not do much better in the second-half as Belgium now have to beat Wales in Cardiff on Monday to regain top spot and have destiny in their own hands.

Their run to next year's Fifa World Cup could have been a lot smoother though had Castagne guided the volley home instead of over.