For a brief spell this looked like it might be a party. Then Charles De Ketelaere scored inside nine minutes, Malik Tillman leveled with a lovely free kick to send the home crowd into raptures, and two minutes later De Ketelaere headed Belgium back in front to remind everyone exactly how the gap between hope and quality works.

The second half was a slow deflation. Hans Vanaken punished a Matt Freese error outside his own box by rolling into an empty net, and Romelu Lukaku added a stoppage-time fourth to make the scoreline as emphatic as the performance. Belgium were simply the better team in every phase that mattered.

As entertainment it front-loaded all of its drama. The opening exchanges were electric, the equalizer was a genuine moment, and then the contest quietly drained away as Belgium's class told. A thrilling first act followed by a procession.