After 36 Years, Tough World Cup Match for Canada

In its first World Cup game in 36 years, Canada faces Belgium, one of the tougher teams in the tournament. It also will match up with 2018 finalist Croatia in Group F play, as well as Morocco. No game will be easy, but Belgium stands as an especially tall obstacle after its third-place finish at the previous World Cup.

Following are our betting preview and picks for Belgium against Canada.

Does Canada Have Enough?

We can’t see Canada winning this game. In fact, the team likely will struggle to score at all in this tournament.

Canada can take some solace in the fact that Belgium’s all-time leading scorer, Romelu Lukaku, is set to miss this game with an injury. Also, stars like Eden Hazard, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld have all struggled the past few seasons, which could give hope to Jonathan David up top.

The Lille superstar has scored nine goals this season in Ligue 1, behind Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Terem Moffi in France’s goalscoring charts but ahead of the great Lionel Messi. The sportsbooks favour nine players to score ahead of him in terms of odds, as David to score anytime is +260.

Easy Win for Belgium Expected

Players like Kevin De Bruyne have been in sensational form at the club level, while stars like Michy Batshuayi and Jérémy Doku make up for the lack of goals from Lukaku. Leandro Trossard and Dries Mertens bring plenty of goalscoring power, and Youri Tielemans and Charles De Ketelaere have been impressive for their clubs as well.

Belgium did struggle in its Nations League games this year. It lost to the Netherlands twice and defeated Wales and Poland comfortably, and it didn’t lose any of its eight World Cup qualifying games.

Our Best Bet for the Game

Although we don’t expect Belgium to have quite the impact it has in recent tournaments, it should advance into the knockout stages with ease. Its only real threat in Group F is Croatia.

We think Belgium will get past Canada comfortably, but with David up front, the Canadians should be confident in getting positive results against Croatia and Morocco.