Professionals, amateurs, “peladeiros” and even “weekend” sports commentators know that football is not fair. History does not lie, and it also collects examples in World Cup matches. The meeting between Belgium and Canada, this Wednesday (23), was another of those cases that will be remembered.

Thirty-six years later, the Canadians are back in the World Cup. And from their debut, they faced the Belgians without fear at the Ahmed bin Ali stadium, in the teams’ first match in Group F. Despite an impressive first half, with the right to a missed penalty, it was Belgium who celebrated at the end of the game – largely due to another fine performance from goalkeeper Courtois.

Belgium took the lead in Group F as Croatia and Morocco drew in the opening game of the day. In the next round, the Belgians face the Moroccans, and can guarantee an early classification in the round of 16.

The game

Without playing the World Cup for so long, Team Canada has returned to the international stage, surprising even the most optimistic Canadians. It was almost 45 minutes of a lot of pressure, intensity and speed on the pitch.

Just after 7′, Buchanan finishes in the box, but the ball catches Carrasco’s hand. Called to VAR, the referee awarded the penalty, but Courtois made a nice save on Davies’ kick.

Gradually, Belgium began to even out the game, especially as Canada’s attacks left plenty of room for the counter-attack – always at the head of Hazard or Bruyne. Even with great enthusiasm, the Canadians still came in frequently, but still failed to aim.

And as the famous saying goes, “who doesn’t, takes it”. Already in the last minutes of the first stage, Alderweireld made a throw still in defense, but Batshuayi prevailed in the dispute to the body against the defender. The Belgian striker invaded the area and hit hard to not only open the scoring, but throw a bucket of cold water on Canadian spirits.

In the second half, the tendency would be for Belgium to use experience and advantage to manage the game, but the panorama was not “so easy”. The Canadians kept up the strong pressure, and again dominated the danger actions. On the other hand, the counter-attack corridors remained open to the Belgians, but they were not used.

It was only in the last minutes that Belgium managed to “cool down” the game and hold the ball better in the offensive field. With so many stars to decide, the spotlight fell into the hands of goalkeeper Courtois. In addition to saving the penalty, he was required a few times throughout the game and stopped all of Canada’s attempts from reacting.

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Belgium 1×0 Canada

Belgium: Courteous; Dendoncker, Alderweireld and Verthongen; Castagne, Tielemans (Onana), Witsel and Carrasco (Meunier); De Bruyne and Eden Hazard (Trossard); Batshuayi (Openda). Coach: Roberto Martinez.
Canada: Borjan; Johnston, Steven Victoria and Miller; Laryea (Adekugbe), Hutchinson (Koné), Eustache (Osorio) and Davies; Buchanan (Millar), Hoilett (Larin) and Jonathan David. Technician: John Herdman.

Aim: Batshuayi (43′ 1T) for Belgium
Yellow cards: Carrasco, Meunier, Onana (Belgium); Davies, Johnston (Canada)
Red cards:-

Raison: 1st round of the group stage of the World Cup – group F
Date: November 23, 2022 (Wednesday)
Time: 4 p.m. (from Brasilia)
Local: Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar
Arbitration: Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)
helpers: Jerson dos Santos (Angola) and Arsenio Marengula (Mozambique)
VAR: Juan Soto (Venezuela)