Croatia, who reached the 2018 tournament’s final, faced Morocco; Germany battled Japan; Belgium fought Canada; and Spain showed no mercy against Costa Rica.
Michy Batshuayi scored in the first half and Thibaut Courtois saved a penalty as Belgium opened their World Cup campaign at 8am on Thursday AEDT with a scrappy 1-0 win over an energetic Canada, who were back in the finals for first time in 36 years.
In their only other World Cup appearance in Mexico in 1986, Canada lost all three matches and failed to score a goal.They looked as if they would register their long awaited first goal when Belgium’s Yannick Carrasco handled the ball in the 11th minute and Alphonso Davies stepped up to take the penalty with the Canadian supporters roaring. But Courtois, one of the world’s best goalkeepers, denied Davies a historic score by stopping his weak spot-kick.
But against the run of play, Belgium took the lead when Batshuayi broke between two defenders, ran on to a long ball and shot past goalkeeper Milan Borjan in the 44th minute. The second half was more even with both sides generating chances but unable to score.AP Dani Olmo opened the floodgates in the 11th minute and was joined on the scoresheet by Marco Asensio , Gavi and Carlos Soler before Alvaro Morata completed the onslaught in stoppage time.Loading
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