Belgium v Canada World Cup Group F Betting Guide

The Teams’ Routes to the World Cup

Belgium

As you would expect, the World’s 2nd best footballing nation won UEFA qualification group E to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. During Belgium’s 8 qualification group games, they won 6 and drew 2 with some tricky ties that included Wales, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Belarus. The two games that Belgium drew were away ties against Wales and the Czech Republic. In total, Belgium scored 25 goals and conceded 6 to dominate their group. Belgium kept 3 clean sheets and Romelu Lukaku finished the group as the top scorer with 5 goals.

Canada

The 2022 World Cup will only be the second time Canada has qualified for the finals of the tournament. They had to wait until the 1986 World Cup in Mexico when they qualified for the first time. In the 1986 tournament, they were knocked out in the group stage losing all three games without scoring a goal. To book their tickets to Qatar, Canada beat all expectations. They were entered into the first round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying round being drawn in Group B. Canada was drawn against Suriname, Bermuda, Aruba and the Cayman Islands. Each team played against each other once and Canada won all their games to win the group. In the second round, Canada played a two-legged play-off to reach the third round by beating Haiti 4 – 0 on aggregate. In the third round, 8 teams played each other home and away in a group league format. Against the odds, Canada won the group and qualified for the 2022 World Cup finishing ahead of Mexico and USA. They played 14 games, winning 8, drawing 4 and losing 2, scoring 23 goals and conceding 7 in the process.

Belgium and Canada have only met once before in a competitive international match that took place in June 1989. On that occasion, Belgium won the match 2 – 0.   

Current Odds at mr.play

Bearing in mind that Belgium finished in 3rd place in the 2018 World Cup and Canada is making only their second appearance in history, it comes as no surprise which team is favoured to win. Belgium is the fancied team to win and you can currently obtain odds at 29/100. You may want to be brave and back the Canadian dark horses to turn up with the bit between their teeth and win the game. If this outcome occurs you can expect odds priced at 46/5, or if you fancy the two to be inseparable, then you will get odds of 89/20 for a drawn result. Whatever you choose, remember all the group and knockout games in the 2022 World Cup, including Belgium versus Canada, have a phenomenal number of betting markets for you to choose from, right here at mr.play.

Team Overviews & Player Profiles

Belgium

Roberto Martinez the Belgium manager will be hoping his possession-based style of play will be successful against the up-and-coming Canadian team. He also possesses an immaculate record while managing the Belgian team overseeing 72 games, winning 54, drawing 12 and only losing 8 times. He will be one of the longest-serving international managers at the World Cup with a 73% win ratio. Will Belgium finally perform to their full capability and go all the way to winning the 2022 World Cup under Martinez? They are certainly capable of doing so having ended their 2018 campaign in 3rd place under the stewardship of Martinez.

The Belgians will be looking for creativity and some footballing magic to unlock the Canadian defence. Eden Hazard has the know-how, playing as an attacking midfielder or winger. Having played almost 150 games for Lille he moved to Chelsea where he made 245 appearances scoring 85 goals before joining Real Madrid. Playing for Chelsea he won the Europa League Player of the Year 2018/2019 and with Real Madrid, he has been a 2 time La Liga and UEFA Champions League winner. Hazard is the captain of the Belgium team and brings pace alongside excellent technique, flair and balance, creating problems for the opposing defence. He made his debut for Belgium in 2008 and has played in the UEFA Euro 2016 and 2020 tournaments. He has also represented Belgium in the 2014 World Cup and 2018 in Russia where he was made captain and contributed to Belgium finishing 3rd. With 120 international caps and 33 goals, Hazard is the 4th most capped and 2nd highest Belgian goal-scorer of all time.

Canada

The manager of the Canadian team has found himself in the hot seat by following a refreshing and different route from typical national team managers of the 2022 World Cup. John Herdman has managed both New Zealand and the Canadian women’s national teams, taking the latter to a bronze medal in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. With his efforts with the women’s teams, he was appointed as the manager of Canada in 2018. He is the first manager to qualify both a female and male team for the World Cup finals. In 2021 he guided Canada from 72nd in the world ranking up to 40th which will make other teams take note of just how improved this team is. It is the first time in 36 years Canada has featured at the World Cup finals and as a manager, his record is 43 matches, 30 wins, 4 draws and 9 losses providing a win ratio of 69.77%.

There is no shortage of experience with a man in midfield who holds the captain’s armband, as he will be the oldest player in the World Cup. Atiba Hutchinson is 39 years old and he is not only captain of Canada but he is the captain of the Turkish Super Lig club Beşiktaş. He is a long-serving player for Beşiktaş having joined in 2013 and has now played over 250 games. Earlier in his career, he played for Copenhagen where he played 139 times for the Danish outfit. He will pass 100 caps for Canada before or during the 2022 World Cup making him the most capped Canadian international of all time, scoring 9 goals in the process.  

A Tough Start for the Canadians

It will be high on the list of Roberto Martinez’s priorities for his Belgian team to beat the Canadians and help maintain his high win ratio. However, John Herman also has a high win ratio and the Canadians will not turn up to be steam-rolled and will be ready to fight till the end, in the hope of creating a major World Cup upset. You can enjoy Belgium v Canada even more right here at mr.play by checking out the hundreds of betting markets available for this match.