Match Thread: World Cup Group F - Matchday 1 - Belgium v Canada - November 23, 2022 - 10pm local time / 2pm ET / 11am PT

[canadasoccer20]

David HAS to take that penalty. This man takes penalties for Lille, one of the top scores in a top 5 league. Davies is our best player and that's fine, but this is the World Cup. We need our best penalty taker taking that. 

[shortofbrillant]

4 minutes ago, Miche said:

I'm not enjoying all this controversy / blame on Davies taking the pen. He'll feel bad as it is. Let's rally.

There are two facts. 1) he doesn't take penalties for his club. 2) it was a terrible attempt. Based on those two things, there is always going to be criticism. It's just the life of high level sports. 

[canuckgbp]

1 minute ago, shortofbrillant said:

There are two facts. 1) he doesn't take penalties for his club. 2) it was a terrible attempt. Based on those two things, there is always going to be criticism. It's just the life of high level sports. 

I detect no lies 

[vancanman]

7 minutes ago, YorkRegionFan said:

Layrea and Buchanaan were a handful the Belgians.  How Layrea is not good enough for NF is beyond me.

Forest isn't good enough for Layrea.

[SpursFlu]

I'm very proud of our guys but extremely disappointed 

The theme of this tournament so far.. upsets

Canada is better than Belgium 

[frmr]

Damn that hurts. Oh well, on to Croatia.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

2 minutes ago, canadasoccer20 said:

David HAS to take that penalty. This man takes penalties for Lille, one of the top scores in a top 5 league. Davies is our best player and that's fine, but this is the World Cup. We need our best penalty taker taking that. 

David looked nervous all game.  I have no idea but maybe he didn't want it. Still Vitoria should be next in my opinion. Or even Junior.

[bwilly11]

Alistair Johnston was a stud today.

Disappointed not to get a point, but I'm so happy how we played.

We belong, the world will be taking notice. 

[JuicyHam]

1 minute ago, shortofbrillant said:

There are two facts. 1) he doesn't take penalties for his club. 2) it was a terrible attempt. Based on those two things, there is always going to be criticism. It's just the life of high level sports. 

To me it doesn't even have to be a blaming Davies thing. Herdman and his staff should know he shouldn't be the guy taking penalties. Even if he scored I think we would still be criticizing this decision 

[jonovision]

.

Edited November 23, 2022 by jonovision
nvm

[Floortom]

So do we want Belgium to run the table now? I did not think they, nor KDB, looked particularly good tonight. Maybe it’s a wake up call for them.

[PastPros]

Not that it matters but... If anyone can explain the Player Ratings on FotMob for this match, I am all ears.

[frmr]

Just now, JuicyHam said:

To me it doesn't even have to be a blaming Davies thing. Herdman and his staff should know he shouldn't be the guy taking penalties. Even if he scored I think we would still be criticizing this decision 

Herdman has said he leaves it up to the players to decide. Nothing wrong with that. Davies grabbed and missed, it is what it is.

[jonovision]

1 minute ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

David looked nervous all game.  I have no idea but maybe he didn't want it. Still Vitoria should be next in my opinion. Or even Junior.

If David had wanted it he would have had been taking it. We've seen this before for Canada.

[canuckgbp]

2 minutes ago, canadasoccer20 said:

David HAS to take that penalty. This man takes penalties for Lille, one of the top scores in a top 5 league. Davies is our best player and that's fine, but this is the World Cup. We need our best penalty taker taking that. 

Is the silver lining we got that out of the way? We coughed up the points but no one expected much from this game. If we attack like we did in the next two games we have a solid chance. 
 

ps- I don’t buy that Belgium let us dictate play. Seen a little of that on twitter. They were rattled. 
 

[trc2014]

Based on performance, hope Miller is good for the second game and not hurt at the end of this game.

[Bertuzzi44]

People complaining about the ref are a bit out to lunch IMO. You think we should have been given two additional PKs in the 1st half? The Eustaquio blocked shot was NEVER a penalty, the defenders arms were tight to his body and if that went against Canada we'd be livid.

The Lareya decision was maybe a bit tighter, but I agree with the commentary at the time that Lareya went looking for contact. No PK in my opinion.

Overall, very proud of the boys. We'll need more from David and Davies against Croatia if we want to beat them though.

And yes, no more egos please (Cavallini, Davies PKs), our PK taker should be Jonathan David and that's that. If he isn't on, probably Vitoria!

[jonovision]

Just now, canuckgbp said:

Is the silver lining we got that out of the way? We coughed up the points but no one expected much from this game. If we attack like we did in the next two games we have a solid chance. 
 

ps- I don’t buy that Belgium let us dictate play. Seen a little of that on twitter. They were rattled. 
 

Tielemans and Carrasco had to get pity-subbed, they were so bad.

[Ansem]

This is the curse that prevented us from scoring.

Now let's move forward and crush Croatia and Morocco 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Ansem

[canuckgbp]

Remember when we were shitting ourselves over Suriname? 
 

[canuckgbp]

5 minutes ago, trc2014 said:

Based on performance, hope Miller is good for the second game and not hurt at the end of this game.

He was a beast 

[lenny]

Disappointing, but wow - Belgium needed to get lucky to beat Canada at a World Cup.  Gotta pinch myself.

Reminds me of Canada's loss to Mexico at the last Gold Cup, which think really showed the level Canada had arrived at despite the loss.  I think this game may be remembered in much the same way.

[jonovision]

Just now, canuckgbp said:

He was a beast 

Wasn't Miller the main guy at fault on the goal against?

[Kadenge]

39 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Johnston to Kone to Osorio.  MLS connection right there.  

Not for long

[ECW]

Very tough to lose on such an obvious mistake. Mistakes that happen within the play, okay, that’s football… but this was something else. David, Vitoria, Hoillet… penalties should not be about who has the greatest media attention or the most tiktok followers.