Ranking every World Cup Team Performance after the First Round of Group Games

#6 Belgium

'The Golden Generation' from Belgium featuring the likes of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku were heavy favorites against underdogs and debutants Panama. After a frustrating first half, Belgium came through with a convincing 3-0 win.

Belgium scored 40+ goals in their qualification campaign. Romelu Lukaku scored more goals (11) than Panama managed in their qualification campaign (9). But the Red Devils put on a dim display in the first half against a determined and aggressive Panama team.

The second half was different. Roberto Martinez pushed Yannick Carrasco even further forward in his wing-back role. The Panama side featured a lot of centurions in their side but were unable to cope with the double flanking attacking of the Belgians. A superb Dries Mertens strike broke the deadlock. Romelu Lukaku, who was a spectator in the first half, burst into life with a couple of goals and took home the Man of the Match Award.

Dries Mertens is one of the most interesting players in this World Cup. His role in the Belgium side can be likened to Thomas Muller's role for Germany and Bayern. He has been in very good goalscoring form for Napoli this season and has a good positional awareness. Mertens role is less glamorous than Hazard's role but is very effective. Belgium will be happy with the second half display from their prime creators in Hazard and De Bruyne. They both assisted one goal each. Romelu Lukaku was lethal in front of goal and took his second goal especially well

Belgium will have to iron out some issues though. Yannick Ferreira Carrasco's positional awareness seemed suspect as Panama created some chances on his side. He was a bit too narrow. Better teams will exploit the space that Carrasco was leaving in the game. Martinez may regret not calling up Jordan Lukaku as an option for left back. The first half display was tepid and uninspiring.

The Red Devils will be satisfied with this convincing victory against Panama as goal difference could prove crucial in determining the top two spots from this group.

The key players for Belgium made meaningful contributions in the win against Panama

#5 Croatia

Croatia had some rather unfortunate off the field events before the World Cup. Modric and Lovren were heavily involved in the controversial Zdravko Mamic court case in Croatia.

The Croats dispelled all the negativity with a 2-0 victory over Nigeria. Modric and Rakitic are among the best central midfielders in the world. They were well and truly in control of the game from start to finish against a disappointing Nigerian side. No Croatian player was a liability.

Croatia lined up in a 4-2-3-1 system with Mario Mandzukic leading the line. Ante Rebic and Ivan Perisic were lively and caused problems to the inexperienced Nigerian fullbacks. Mario Mandzukic was his usual self. He worked hard to get the wide players into the game with his hold up play.

A solid and professional performance from the Croats. The best part of this performance was that the Croats never really had to raise their intensity and switch gears to a higher tempo. They will be delighted with this comfortable victory ahead of their crunch match against Argentina.

A good team performance from the Croats