Nine minutes after entering the field, Marouane Fellaini, a skyscraper-like midfielder with Manchester United, powered an unstoppable header off a cross from Hazard to tie the game.

The game continued to fluctuate wildly from end to end. Japan, still pressing for a victory, forced two saves from Courtois in stoppage time — including one that would eventually lead to Chadli’s winning goal.

Courtois snatched a corner kick out of the air with 93:30 on the clock. He laid it off to midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who surged up field before feeding a streaking Thomas Meunier to his right. Meunier sent a low pass into the area that Romelu Lukaku, in an act of remarkable coolness, allowed to roll through his legs and into the path of Chadli for a simple finish.

The remarkable comeback complete, Belgian players mobbed the goal scorer while their Japanese opponents slumped to the ground, some to their haunches and others flat on their backs.

Akira Nishino, Japan’s coach, stood stunned on the sidelines in his shirt sleeves, unable to comprehend what had happened to his team. He remained that way for several seconds until Martínez walked over to break the spell. It was real. Japan had somehow succumbed in the most painful way possible.

Nishino was still suffering the effects 30 minutes later. “When we conceded the goal,” he said, before pausing for several seconds, “I was questioning myself whether I had control of the game. We were 2-0 up, and still the score was reversed. I don’t think it was the players’ fault, it was me who might have lost control of the game.”

It was Belgium that stayed in control, finding a way out of a crisis that previous generations of gifted Belgium teams had not escaped. Perhaps the “golden generation” tag that this team has carried around like a lead weight may finally yield the kind of success that eluded the Belgians in France two years ago and at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.