Advantage Belgium was the verdict after Georges Leekens's heavily-improvised team had defied the odds and the expectations of the home crowd to salvage a draw in the opening leg of their World Cup play-off tie at Lansdowne Road last night.

Now only a renaissance of considerable dimensions in the return game, in Brussels on November 15th, can preserve the Irish dream of qualifying for the World Cup finals for a third consecutive occasion.

Not only did Belgium come away with a point, but they plundered the away goal which may yet prove crucial. Luc Nilis scored when he launched a 20-yard drive past the startled Shay Given on the half hour.

It was a huge anti-climax, all the more so since the home team, borne along on tidal waves of sound, had sprung into the lead after only seven minutes.

That ought to have been the cue for a night of heroics. Instead, it had the effect of galvanising the Belgians. After that, this deeply flawed performance by the home team went from bad to worse.

Ireland's territorial supremacy in the second half was the product, primarily, of a calculated risk by Belgium, who frequently withdrew players from midfield to construct an arc of steel around goalkeeper Filip De Wilde.

It needed something more than the bludgeoning power of Tony Cascarino to undo a fortress like that. The measure of Ireland's bankruptcy in invention is contained in the statistic that it was not until a minute from the end of normal time that De Wilde was required to make a save from open play.

His most arduous task before this had been to retrieve the ball from his net after Denis Irwin curled a 25-yard free kick around the wall.

That would remain Belgium's only moment of acute stress until injury time, when Irwin lined up another free kick, slightly further out. On this occasion, however, his judgment was marginally astray and the ball missed De Wilde's right hand post by a couple of feet.

In between, Mike Verstraeten's handball offence in his own penalty area was deemed to be the product of a push by Cascarino. Laszlo Vagner, the Hungarian referee, was correct in that ruling and yet it would have been no more than the hand of justice at work had Verstraeten been penalised.

On a night when the Belgians were as clinically efficient as ever in the dark art of body checking, the big central defender was one of the more persistent offenders.

However, the harsh fact is that, technically the visitors were in a different class. More than that, they moved at a pace which nearly always gave them half a yard on those trying to close them down.

Luis Oliveira and probably Enzo Scifo and Lorenzo Staelens will be available to strengthen their team in the return game.

That said, Oliveira could experience some difficulty in reclaiming his place in the front line. Goalscorer Nilis - who was denied on other occasions by the athleticism of Shay Given - and Michael Goossens were excellent.

Given's development as a top class goalkeeper continues to be the brightest part of Mick McCarthy's ambitious youth programme, but otherwise there was not a lot to recommend the performance. Ken Cunningham, as ever, was resourceful at the centre of the defence and alongside him, Ian Harte again illustrated a precious flair for the big occasion.

But Irwin's Achilles heel, his inability to deal with the floated cross, again proved costly when he failed to clear Nico Van Kerkckhoven's cross and then saw his error compounded when Nilis came inside his attempted tackle for a superb score.

Andy Townsend's inability to pick up the rampaging Marc Wilmots in the first half was another source of deep concern. With Steve Staunton having a difficult night, there was nobody with either the guile or the vision to bring composure to the middle line.

That was compounded by a nightmare performance from Mark Kennedy. The reshuffle which brought in Jeff Kenna improved things significantly, but it failed to do anything to entice the Belgians into a serious error.

In those circumstances, it was a well-nigh impossible game for the front runners and David Connolly contributed nothing. A Tony Cascarino knock-on, on previous occasions one of Ireland's most successful ploys, did not materialise until late in the game.

Add in Ray Houghton's sharp decline in form and there was little to recommend the Irish performance.

The pattern of the first half had been set within five minutes of the kick off. In that period, Irwin, Kennedy and Staunton were all guilty of errors as Belgium pushed on at a different pace to the Irish.

It was against that backdrop that Irwin hurled his early thunderbolt, judging the arc of the free kick so precisely that even though De Wilde was moving in the correct direction, he was still some way adrift of the ball as it sailed into the corner of the net.

That ought to have provided the platform for a substantial performance. Instead it was the visitors, moving with such verve that the play always seemed to be by-passing Townsend and Staunton in central midfield, who provided almost all the goalmouth action.

In that situation, it was pleasantly surprising that Belgium failed to make it count in the last third of the field, with Goossens and Nilis both spurning the chances created by Danny Boffin's persistence and Marc Wilmots' perception.

In between, Given produced the save of the game to heighten Belgium's frustration, spreading himself to keep out Nilis's header from an inviting cross by Goossens. Ireland couldn't hope to escape indefinitely, however, and in Nilis's flamboyant shot to the roof of Given's net, the visitors got no more than they deserved.

Damningly it was not until the 43rd minute that the Irish contrived a chance from open play, and then Ray Houghton's scuffed shot missed the target by some yards.

McCarthy had a lot of urgent talking to do during the half-time break. The effect was to produce significantly more movement in the Belgian half but, alas, with no difference to the scoreline.

Belgium, now playing almost exclusively on the break, again created the chances which mattered, with Nilis and Goossens both extracting nimble saves from Given.

Later, the Irish goalkeeper's outstretched leg was to deny Goossens after the Irish had been caught out on the right side of their defence. On the one occasion in this half that Given was in difficulty, the shot by Wilmots bounced over off the top of the crossbar.

Significantly, it was not until the 89th minute that De Wilde was forced to scramble, holding a downward header by Cascarino. This statistic said it all on a night when Ireland looked a long way short of being world beaters.

Republic Of Ireland: Given, G Kelly, Irwin, Harte, Cunningham, Staunton, Townsend (Carsley 75), Houghton, Connolly (Coyne 82), Cascarino, Kennedy (Kenna 33). Subs Not Used: McLoughlin, Breen, A. Kelly, McAteer. Booked: Cascarino. Goals: Irwin 8.

Belgium: De Wilde, Genaux, Verstraeten, Van Meir, Vidovic, Van Der Elst, Wilmots, Nilis (De Bilde 88), Goossens (Verheyen 88), Boffin, Van Kerkckhoven. Subs Not Used: Van de Walle, Claessens, Deflandre, De Roover, Borkelmans. Booked: Verstraeten, Genaux. Goals: Nilis 30.

Referee: L Vagner (Hungary).