Spot-kick woes for Canada as Belgium edge scrappy victory

Canada missed a penalty and were controversially denied two more as Michy Batshuayi’s strike condemned them to a narrow defeat against Belgium on their first World Cup appearance in 36 years.

Having finished third in the 2018 finals and boasting talent such as Kevin De Bruyne, Youri Tielemans and Thibaut Courtois, Belgium have been tipped to go deep into the tournament once more.

But they had to settle for a scrappy 1-0 victory at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Batshuayi’s strike on the stroke of half-time proving the difference as Canada – with St Johnstone’s David Wotherspoon on the bench – failed to score despite having 22 shots on goal.

The North Americans missed from the spot as Bayern Munich forward Alphonso Davies’ weak effort was saved by Courtois, before controversial official Janny Sikazwe turned down two further strong penalty shouts in the first-half.

The Zambian official came to prominence after twice blowing for fulltime before the 90th minute in an Africa Cup of Nations fixture earlier this year and his decisions left Canada tasting a bitter defeat.

Englishman John Herdman worked wonders to get Canada to their first World Cup since 1986 – becoming the first manager to coach teams at both the men’s and women’s World Cup in the process.

But his players certainly did not wilt under the pressure, often outplaying their European counterparts and putting down a marker in their attempt to qualify from Group F.

“They showed tonight that they do belong here,” said Herdman.

“It has been a long time since we have been back, our fans were football fans, they really tried to own the stadium tonight.

“They (the fans) walked away proud I’m sure, proud and feeling like we are a footballing nation. We came into the game with a couple of goals, the first was to play fearless and the second goal was to entertain.”

Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne was awarded the man of the match award despite being far from his best.

The Manchester City midfielder summed up both the Belgium performance and his own display when accepting the accolade in the postmatch press conference.

“I don’t think I played a great game,” he admitted. “I don’t know why I got the trophy, maybe because of the (my) name. I don’t think we played well enough as a team.

“We started really badly, the momentum was with Canada and we didn’t find a way through their press.”

Michy Batshuayi celebrates scoring for Belgium.