Written by Gabrielle Tetraault-Farber
AL-RAYAN, Qatar, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Canada showed on Wednesday they can take on the world’s best as they embarrassed Belgium, who cruised to a resounding 1-0 victory in the opening match of the World Cup. Herdman.
Canada, who unexpectedly became the first CONCACAF team to qualify for this year’s World Cup, took part in the 1986 World Cup, where they went winless and goalless in the group stage.
Now, against the number two team in the world, Canada had the misfortune to come away empty-handed.
“With a performance like this, I’m proud of what they’ve done, really proud. They’ve shown they can play here,” an optimistic Herdman said in a press conference.
Belgium finished third in the 2018 World Cup, scoring only nine attempts on goal, while Canada scored 21 times, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved a penalty kick, and Michy Batshuayi scored the winning goal for the Belgians.
Canada was not able to capitalize on many scoring opportunities, but still faced their tough opponents and prevented them from settling into the match.
“I’m not going to criticize them because when you beat Belgium you can’t complain too much. Sometimes it’s your night and sometimes it’s not,” Herdmann said.
“The teams will know what we do and how we go about our business, if we are more ruthless in this attack we will get something out of these matches. The group is very open,” he said.
Canada will face Croatia on Sunday. (Edited in Spanish by Carlos Calvo Pacheco)
