Everton’s Amadou Onana has come a long way in a short space of time and 21-year-old’s steep learning curve continued in Belgium’s 2-0 defeat to Morocco as he picked up a second yellow card of the World Cup which will leave him suspended for their final group game with Croatia.
Having impressed as a half-time substitute in what was otherwise a largely underwhelming 1-0 victory over Canada with Nieuwsblad back in him homeland proclaiming “what a power”, the Blues midfielder was handed a start in central midfield against the North Africans for what was only his fourth cap to date.
It was a bold move from Belgium’s former Everton manager Roberto Martinez as he brought the international rookie into the engine room at the expense of Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans, a far more experienced performer at this level with 56 appearances for the Red Devils and five international goals. When the pair went head to head at Goodison Park on Bonfire Night, the older man clearly had the edge, opening the scoring with a magnificently-struck effort in front of the Gwladys Street in first half stoppage time while the youngster was forced off through injury just after the hour mark but while the pair occupy the same area of the pitch, they offer rather different qualities.
