In a meeting that hardly carried an expected result given the form sheet, struggling Belgium were unable to do the double over Israel, who earned a late 1-0 win at Budapest’s Bozsik Aréna.

It was all Belgium in the opening 30 minutes, with Domenico Tedesco’s troops eager to end their poor group stage campaign on a high but were still unable to find a breakthrough before the half-time interval.

Abject lethargy gripped much of the second half in what was an overall lackluster outing for both nations on the night, but particularly for Belgium, the absence of a cadre of first-choice options for Tedesco certainly played its part.

That absence proved critical in conjunction with a failure to convert a handful of earlier chances when second-half substitute Yarden Shua found a loose ball at his feet in the box before slotting past Koen Casteels after a penalty box scramble.

Belgium will now face a relegation playoff, while Israel are guaranteed to drop down to Nations League B.