Tormented by the Brazilian national team in the last World Cup, Belgium made their debut in Qatar World Cup against Canada this Wednesday, from 4 p.m. (Brasilia time), at the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium.

Belgium

The Belgian side are looking to qualify as favorites to win the unprecedented cup with a strong start in the group stage. The core of the strong generation commanded by Roberto Martínez remains. Courtois, Vertonghen, Witsel, De Bruyne, Hazard and Lukaku remain in the starting line-up.

However, the main stars have aged and are no longer playing at the peak of their careers. For example, in 2018, Eden Hazard arrived at the World Cup in Russia as the main player from Chelsea, England, and had scored 17 goals and provided 13 assists that season. Currently, Hazard is not a Real Madrid starter and is struggling with numerous injuries, having played only six games.

In addition to the bad phase of number 10, the Belgian coach will have another “puzzle”. Romelu Lukaku is injured and will miss the first two group matches. In the last friendly game, in the 2-1 loss to Egypt, the Belgian team started with Batshuayi in charge of the attack and the young Openda came on in the second half to get his goal out.

Canada

On the other hand, Canada returns to a World Cup after 36 years to try to surprise. The national team has a combination of experienced players like Hoilett and Hutchinson, and a new generation of youngsters who are breaking through in European football like Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David.

In the final World Cup warm-up friendly, the Canadians took on Japan and won 2-1. Bayern Munich winger Alphonso Davies was out through injury and did not play the game. The absence worried fans, but Canada manager John Herdman guaranteed the player’s presence in the debut against Belgium.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’re going to start with him. He’s trained well, he’s got his speed back and he’s got his smile back. He’s flying. We’re going to field a strong team, we’ll be 100%. The storm clouds are over,” the trainer said.

World Cup Group H

Still in Group H, Croatia and Morocco face each other this Wednesday, from 7 a.m. (Brasilia time), at the Al Bayt stadium.

DATA SHEET

BELGIUM X CANADA

Square: Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan (QAT)

Date: 23 November 2022, Wednesday

Time: From 4 p.m. (from Brasilia)

Arbitrator: Janny Sikazwe (ZAM)

Assistants: Jerson dos Santos (ZAM) and Arsenio Maringule (MOÇ)

VAR: Yoshimi Yamashita (JPN)

BELGIUM: Thibaut Courtois ; Timothy Castagne, Zeno Debast, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Yannick Carrasco; Youri Tielemans, Axel Witsel; Kevin De Bruyne, Lois Openda and Eden Hazard.

Technician: Roberto Martinez

CANADA: Milan Borjan; Alistair Johnston, Steven Victory, Kamal Miller, Sam Adekugbe; Junior Hoilett, Atiba Hutchinson, Samuel Piette, Alphonso Davies; Jonathan David and Cyle Larin.

Technician: John Herdman