Nicolas Raskin's World Cup prospects become clearer after Rangers star's Belgium cameo

Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin will have every hope that he has impressed Belgian manager Rudi Garcia ahead of the opening World Cup game for his nation.

Raskin had his international breakthrough in 2025, thanks to his performances in Govan.

Since then, he has featured on 13 occasions for the Red Devils, and is now poised to feature in his first-ever World Cup.

His performance in Belgium's friendly against Croatia was quite poor, and it may have hurt his chances of becoming a starter at this summer's tournament.

However, the Rangers midfielder may have just righted those wrongs despite playing just 10 minutes against Tunisia.

How Nicolas Raskin has boosted his World Cup chances

Raskin was selected to start on the bench for Belgium versus Tunisia as they continued their World Cup preparations.

However, he would still be handed minutes off the bench to try and impress manager Garcia.

Raskin took the opportunity with both hands, scoring just seven minutes after coming onto the pitch, and making the score 5-0.

Other than his goal, it was a solid performance despite the limited time. According to Sofascore, he was awarded a 7.7 rating.

On top of that, Raskin also maintained a 92 per cent passing accuracy and produced one key pass.

Defensively there was little for him to do with Belgium controlling the game against the North Africans.

His only contribution was completing one recovery. After a poor game against Croatia by his standards, he will be delighted that he was able to correct it.

When is Belgium's first World Cup game?

The international friendlies are now behind Raskin, and his attentions will turn to the World Cup itself now.

Raskin and the Red Devils have been handed a nice group in terms of opposition

They will face another North African nation in Egypt in their opening match on 15 June at 8 pm UK time

With stars such as Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, it certainly will not be as easy as the 5-0 win against Tunisia.

Raskin will then move on to games against Iran (21 June at 8 pm) and finally New Zealand (27 June at 4 am).

Belgium are undoubtedly favourites to top their group.

Overall, for any interested Rangers fans wanting to catch a glimpse of their midfielder, there are two games there with kind kick-off times.

However, it may only be the Gers superfans that decide to wake up or wait up for that final group match.