Belgium vs Canada LIVE: World Cup 2022 result, final score and reaction after Michy Batshuayi hits winner
Belgium 1-0 Canada: Michy Batshuayi scores glorious winner to sink impressive Canada
Belgium kicked off their World Cup 2022 campaign by sneaking past a determined Canada in their opening Group F fixture. Despite being outplayed for most of the game Roberto Martinez’s side took the lead just before half-time through Michy Batshuayi’s left-footed strike.
Yet sometimes the scoreline simply does not tell the whole story. Semi-finalists in 2018, the top-ranked team in the world for more than three years, Belgium duly beat a Canada side absent from this stage since 1986. Most expected them to; just not like this because Belgium were dismal in victory, Canada marvellous in defeat.
Canada were denied by moments of brilliance in either penalty box, whether Michy Batshuayi’s wonderful winner or Thibaut Courtois’ terrific penalty save. The points will go to Roberto Martinez, but the plaudits should belong to John Herdman, whose underdogs made this a memorable occasion.
In 2022, as in 1986, Canada are pointless and goalless in the World Cup 2022 but, from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, from the 49th parallel to the Arctic Circle, theirs was a performance to be proud of.
Relive all the action from Belgium vs Canada with our live blog below:
Kick off: Belgium 0-0 Canada
Canada kick off the match and send the ball backwards. They pass it around the back line before giving it to Milan Borjan after Belgium’s attackers start to press.
The goalkeeper clears the ball with a long hoof up the pitch.
Belgium vs Canada
Here come the teams.
On paper this fixture looks like an easy win for Belgium but Canada have pace up top and are full of confidence having qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 36 years.
The national anthems are sung, the fans are ready, kick off is up next...
Belgium vs Canada
John Herdman is the first person to manage a team at both the men’s and women’s World Cup finals. He managed New Zealand (2007, 2011) and Canada (2015) at the women’s World Cup.
Canada lost all three of their matches at their only previous World Cup appearance in 1986 without scoring a goal.
Les Rouges are winless in their last 12 games against European opposition with five draws and seven defeats.
If he plays, Atiba Hutchinson (39 years 288 days) will become the second oldest outfield player in World Cup history behind only Cameroon’s Roger Milla.
Belgium vs Canada
Only Mexico (16) have made more World Cup appearances than Belgium (13) without ever having lifted the trophy. The Belgians were the top goal scorers at the 2018 World Cup, scoring 16 times as they finished third.
They are unbeaten in their last 12 World Cup group stage matches since losing to Saudi Arabia in 1994 and the Red Devils can equal the World Cup record of eight consecutive group stage wins, set twice by Brazil between 1986-1994 and again in 2002-2010.
Belgium taking calculated risk that playmaker, Eden Hazard, can recapture old glories
Kevin De Bruyne’s mercurial talent is indisputable and Romelu Lukaku will be a powerful force up front, so the big question for Belgium heading to the World Cup 2022 in Qatar is whether they can get the best out of playmaker Eden Hazard.
The Real Madrid midfielder has barely played in the Spanish capital this season but Belgium coach Roberto Martinez has kept faith and started him in both Nations League games in September.
Injuries and a loss of form have pushed Hazard down the pecking order at his club, and that in turn has raised questions about the 31-year-old’s place in the national side and whether he will be in peak condition in Qatar.
Belgium taking calculated risk that Eden Hazard can recapture old glories
Hazard’s career has faltered at Real Madrid but Roberto MArtinez is keeping the faith ahead of the World Cup
The Canada star born in a refugee camp and donating his World Cup earnings to charity
Alphonso Davies’ unlikely path to spearheading Canada’s first World Cup campaign in nearly four decades began in a West African refugee camp where children’s dreams are eclipsed by the need to survive.
Davies, a left back at Bayern Munich, was born in the Ghanaian refugee camp of Buduburam to Liberian parents who fled civil war in their country.
His family emigrated to Canada when he was five, the age at which many Canadian children put on skates and handle a hockey stick for the first time.
The former refugee, now 22, has raised Canadian men’s soccer to new heights, becoming the youngest player to feature for the senior national team as a 16-year-old and the first Canadian to win the men’s Champions League Final.
Canada star Alphonso Davies donating his World Cup earnings to charity
Davies’ unlikely path now sees him spearheading Canada’s first World Cup appearance since 1986 in Qatar
Nadia Nadim: ITV World Cup pundit left heartbroken after mother killed in road accident
World Cup pundit Nadia Nadim has been left heartbroken after her mother was killed by a truck. The Denmark legend was forced off air on ITV during Denmark’s draw against Tunisia at Qatar.
And the 34-year-old has paid tribute to her mother and confirmed the tragic news.
“Words can not describe what I’m feeling,” Nadim said in a statement. “I have lost the most important person in my life and it happened so sudden and unexpected. She was only 57.”
World Cup pundit Nadia Nadim left heartbroken after mother killed in road accident
The Denmark international abruptly left her country’s World Cup match with Tunisia on Tuesday
‘The Golden Generation’ of Belgium will step up on World Cup stage says Martinez
Belgium may not be weighed down by history – but that doesn’t make expectation levels any less hefty.
Roberto Martinez’s side have been the number one side in the world for most of the four years between the last World Cup in Russia and this tournament in Qatar.
They’ve also reached the last eight of every major tournament since 2014, but have yet to make a major final. Their third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup is, to date, the best achievement by a side who many would consider to be capable of so much more.
Their most recent brush with disappointment came at last year’s Euros, after an epic clash with Italy at Munich’s Allianz Arena. It’s a game that Belgian boss, Roberto Martinez, remains convinced could have gone either way.
Roberto Martinez: ‘The Golden Generation’ of Belgium will step up at World Cup
The Red Devils have the individual talent to make them the envy of many in Qatar but have so far flattered to deceive when it comes to the biggest moments at major tournaments
Meet the Englishman helping Canada to dream big at Qatar World Cup
It’s the summer of 1986 and excitement is building in two very different part of the globe.
In Canada, the country is preparing for its first ever World Cup finals, under the guidance of an English manager, Tony Waiters, who narrowly missed out on selection for his country’s World Cup squad in 1966.
In the North East, there’s a similar sense of anticipation as a budding 10-year-old footballer busies himself with the task of completing his 1986 Panini World Cup sticker album.
England’s players are given the large sticker treatment, with the likes of Gary Lineker and Peter Shilton afforded full squares in the album. Canada’s players, meanwhile, assume the role of second-class citizens, their players squeezed into Panini pairs on the page.
Meet the Englishman helping Canada to dream big at Qatar World Cup
Exclusive interview: From Consett to Qatar, Herdman will be the second English manager at the World Cup and is determined to keep proving the doubters wrong
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