Canada Falls 1-0 to Belgium in Canada World Cup 2022 Opener
Canada World Cup 2022 opened with a 1-0 loss to Belgium, but Canada was the better team for long stretches and left its first match at the tournament with a performance that stood out more than the score. Alphonso Davies missed a penalty, and the result became the early reference point for a team back at the World Cup after 36 years.
Davies and Belgium
Davies arrived in Qatar four days before Canada’s first game and carried the biggest moment of the night when he missed the penalty. Canada still pushed Belgium for long periods, which made the final margin feel tighter than the score line and gave the opener a very different shape from a routine defeat.
That match mattered because it was Canada’s first-ever World Cup game at the 2022 tournament. The team had trained at the grounds of Umm Salal SC on the outskirts of Doha, trying to settle into a setup that had already been unsettled before kickoff.
Doha Build-up
Canada reached its first pre-match media event 40 minutes late and blamed traffic, forcing Belgium to go first. The team base also did not supply bottled water, a small detail that fit the wider picture of a buildup that looked disorganized before the opening whistle.
On the field, though, Canada did not look overwhelmed. It played Belgium well enough to leave the opener with the sense that the team’s return to the World Cup after 36 years had started with a competitive showing, not just a result.
Herdman After Belgium
After the Belgium match, John Herdman said, “We are going to go and eff Croatia.” The line turned the opener into an immediate pivot, with Canada moving from a strong first performance into the next challenge in the group.
For Canada, the first game became both a warning and a baseline. The 1-0 loss left room for frustration, but the display against Belgium also showed a team that could carry its own against a favored opponent even with a messy lead-up and a missed penalty from its captain.
