Belgium play Canada in their opening match of the 2022 World Cup and will be confident of getting off to a good start against a side playing making their first appearance in the finals of the tournament since 1986.

Belgium are ranked number 2 in the world by FIFA but have never won, or featured in the final in fact, of any World Cup or European Championships. However, they do seem to be getting closer as they have made it through to the quarter-finals of the last two Euros as well as at Brazil 2014 and finished in third place of the 2018 World Cup.

They have a wealth of talent at the disposal including the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois and can certainly pose a threat to the best teams in the world.

Belgium are priced as high as 14/1 to win this year’s tournament and they’ll no doubt be attracting some wagers at those odds.

Canada have failed to qualify for the last eight World Cups but have made it to Qatar 2022 after 36 years of waiting after finishing top of their qualifying group.

Many will put their recent transformation down to the appointment of English manager John Herdman who took charge of the men’s team in 2018 after a successful stint with Canada’s women’s team. He has his team playing with confidence which showed when they beat relatively tough opponents such as Mexico and the USA during qualifying.

Canada don’t have a huge squad of big names but there are a couple of players to watch, namely their centre-forward Jonathan David who has scored 13 goals this season for French club Lille.

The excitement of making it to their first World Cup in 36 years will surely give Canada a boost heading into this opening game but I can’t see past a win for Belgium. If they click, they could be a side that makes it through to the later stages of the tournament and they’ll be eager not to drop any points against one of the weaker sides.

Odds of 1/3 for Belgium to win aren’t hugely appealing as a single and I think other markets are best looked at for a bit more value.

Belgium/Belgium in the HT/FT market is priced at a very reasonable Evens which I’d be interested in backing. I also think Over 3.5 Goals at odds of 2/1 is fair given Belgium’s attacking ability.

Belgium vs Canada team news and line ups will be published here once full World Cup squads have been announced.