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.

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 now qualified from Group H, but until the last ten minutes this had been grim stuff against Capello’s hard-working Russians.

Hazard was out-of-sorts and Romelu Lukaku toothless, 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 knock-out rounds.

Russia could count themselves unfortunate after matching Belgium until the final minutes, and nearly drew first blood.

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.

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 Russian skipper Vasily Berezutskiy came to the rescue.

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 once again Lukaku could not get on the end of this cross.

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 drifted ever further into the doldrums, 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.

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.

  • Sporting Lisbon striker Islam Slimani led the way as Algeria rekindled their hopes of emerging from Group H with a thrilling 4-2 victory over South Korea.

Slimani set the Africans on their way to just their second World Cup finals victory with the opening goal, quickly followed by strikes from Rafik Halliche and Abdelmoumene Djabou as the Algerians, beaten narrowly by Belgium in their opening game, raced into a 3-0 lead by half-time.

The Koreans rallied after the break with Son Heungmin and Koo Ja-cheol both scoring, but Yacine Brahimi’s calm finish in between meant there was no late drama.

A draw in their final group game against Russia in Curitiba on Thursday could be enough to send Algeria through with Korea needing to beat group leaders Belgium to stand any chance of progressing.