Belgium plays poorly, but opens World Cup with victory over Canada

In a technically weak confrontation, Belgium took advantage of a fortuitous move to win a 1-0 victory over Canada, in the debut of Group F of the World Cup in Qatar, this Wednesday (23).

Always named as one of the contenders for the title, Belgium has shown that it is not up to the same standard as the last World Cups – in the last one, in 2018, in Russia, it eliminated Brazil in the quarterfinals.

Canada, in its second participation in World Cups —the first was in Spain, in 1986—, showed a lot of will and a good defensive system. However, the attack is weak and reached the fourth game in World Cups without adding a point.

In a technically weak first half, Canada immediately went on top, surprising the rival and taking control of the game. However, as soon as players reached the Belgian penalty area, they didn’t know what to do with the ball and ended up kicking it out or losing possession to the defence.

The first big chance to open the scoring came just after 11 minutes, when Buchanan’s shot from the edge of the area was blocked by Carrasco’s hand. After consulting the VAR (video referee), judge Janny Sikazwe, from Zambia, awarded the penalty.

However, goalkeeper Courtois saved his team by saving Davies’ kick, which was badly executed.

When it was expected that Belgium would react after Courtois’ save, this did not happen. Canada continued to dominate the actions and arrived several times in a row in the rival area. But, as before, without success in the submissions.

Belgium, on the other hand, was barely able to threaten goalkeeper Borjan. Mainly because he couldn’t count on striker Romelo Lukaku, who was injured. The experienced Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard were very well marked and managed to create little danger.

This scenario lasted until defender Alderweireld took a shot from his box and found Batshuayi among the Canadian defenders. The attacker let the ball bounce and left-handed shot into the left corner of the rival goalkeeper to open the scoring, in the 44th minute.

The second half followed the same script as the first. The Belgians even managed to leave more for the game, after making substitutions, but the two attacks remained unable to break through the defensive block. When the initial barrier was overcome, the kicks almost invariably went outside.

Proof of this is that Canada made 22 finalizations in the game, with only three in the direction of the goal – one of them, the penalty. Belgium shot nine times, three on target.

In the next round, on Sunday (27th), Belgium will face Morocco, at 10 am (Brasília time). At 1pm, Canada will face Croatia.