FIFA World Cup 2022: Belgium and Canada shortcomings in Group F

Bengaluru, December 4: The Group stages of the FIFA World Cup has finally come to an end and we have witnessed quite a dramatic group stage. The Group F turned out to be one of the most interesting groups with plenty of drama alive until the last round of games.

When the draws were made, it was perceived that Belgium and Croatia would find it easy to qualify from Group F with Morocco and Canada expected to be outsiders.

However, Morocco have truly shocked everyone and topped the group ahead of the two teams who finished second and third in the last World Cup.

Belgium, the second ranked country as per FIFA rankings, have been knocked out from the group stage itself while Croatia have only managed to finish second behind the Atlas Lions. Canada, as expected, finished last but should not be at all too disheartened by their World Cup campaign.

Here, we will take a look at why Belgium and Canada fell short in Group C:

Belgium

The golden generation of Belgian football continues to underperform and it looks highly likely that they are pretty much done and dusted. The Red Devils have been pretty disastrous by their standards and looked nowhere like a steam ranked second as per FIFA rankings.

Belgium won 1-0 against Canada in their opening game but it would wrong to say that they were the better team and the score line could have easily been the other way round. Meanwhile, Morocco absolutely thrashed them on the break to secure a history 2-0 win. Belgium had their chances to still make it to the last 16 with a win against Croatia but their poor finishing came to cost them dearly.

Roberto Martinez's team selection and tactics always divided opinion and the same has been the case in the World Cup. Also, Belgium players seemed to lack cohesion between themselves and it was further evident with Kevin De Bruyne's comments. Overall, Belgium simply did not deserve to advance to last 16 and have only themselves to blame.

Canada

Canada might have finished their World Cup campaign with zero points but it would be wrong to perceive that they did not impress at all. Despite their lack of overall quality, they fared pretty well and took the game to their opponents.

Alphonso Davies, in particular, was thoroughly impressive for the North Americans and often looked like a one-man army. Canada have given a good account of themselves in Qatar and will now work on their game ahead of the 2026 World Cup they are cohosting with the USA.