“I don’t think I played a great game”-Kevin De Bruyne is surprised after being named Man of the Match at Belgium’s 2022 FIFA World Cup opener against Canada


“I don’t think I played a great game”-Kevin De Bruyne is surprised after being named Man of the Match at Belgium’s 2022 FIFA World Cup opener against Canada

Kevin De Bruyne looks fatigued after the match.

One of the contenders of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Belgium played Canada in their group stage opener and the match was not one-sided at all as all the fans were expecting it to be. Rather Canada made it really tough for the Belgium players and the defenders were not given any rest at all with constant threats coming from Canada’s Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David.

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The match ended 1-0 for Belgium as Michy Batshuayi‘s half-volleyed effort in the last minute of the first half was enough to see it through. Regarded as the best midfielder in the world, Kevin de Bruyne was awarded the man of the match award, and the number 7 star was surprised by that decision.

At the postgame press conference, De Bruyne said, “We didn’t play well enough as a team. I do not know why I won the man of the match, maybe because of my name. Credit to Canada. We could not get through their press, we did not play a good game today, me included but we found a way to win.”

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Was Kevin De Bruyne and Belgium lucky to get all three points from the match?

Kevin De Bruyne in action during the match.

It wasn’t the night Belgium expected it to be as Canada frustrated them throughout the match and made them fight for the victory with some pundits still feeling that Canada was the better team on the field. Canada could have gone 1-0 up in the first 10 minutes when Alphonso Davies stepped up to take the penalty which was saved by Thibault Courtois. 

Belgium was almost steamrollered by a team intent on pressing the life out of them but was rescued by an otherwise ineffectual Michy Batshuayi as he half-volleyed the ball into the back of the net to clinch the only goal of the game. However, it was neither Belgium’s goalscorer nor goalkeeper that was granted the honor of being named Man of the Match. Instead, it was De Bruyne who had some lovely driving runs from deep but too often his final pass or shot resulted in nothing. 

Canada took 22 shots to Belgium’s 9 but could not find the much-needed equalizer and eventually suffered a cruel defeat. Belgium is now on top of the table in Group F as Morocco and Croatia drew their match and with Belgium facing Morocco next, they are close to qualifying for the next stage with just a win away.

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