Kevin De Bruyne was named Man of the Match despite Belgium’s lackluster performance in their World Cup opener against Canada.
After Belgium’s lackluster win, Kevin De Bruyne claimed he was named Man of the Match “because of his name.”
The Manchester City playmaker was named as the game’s standout player after his country picked up a 1-0 win in their World Cup opener. Michy Batshuayi scored a first-half winner despite Belgium being second-best for much of their clash with Canada.
De Bruyne was noticeably off his best form, which fans are used to seeing on an almost weekly basis in the Premier League. The 31-year-old has won successive Player of the Year awards in the past but clearly didn’t feel as if he’d hit the necessary levels as he claimed his reputation got him the accolade.
He said at full-time: “I didn’t play a good game. Maybe I was chosen because of my name.” Belgium only had nine efforts on goal with Canada registering 22 despite their underdog status. Alphonso Davies missed a first-half penalty for the Canadians, who spurned several other opportunities.
De Bruyne’s downbeat tone was echoed by his manager, Roberto Martinez, who was demanding more from his players going forward. He told the BBC: “Canada deserved to be better than us in the way they played. I think the result reflects the things that we had to do and the way we defended each other and took our chances.
“It’s a win and we need to play better and to grow. We’ve been here five days, we have to grow with these games. Many top teams are losing games. This tournament is going to make you develop and grow as the tournament goes on. If you do that by winning games, it’s an incredible advantage.
“Today we didn’t win by our normal talent and quality on the ball, but you don’t win in the World Cup if you don’t do the other side of the game. We need to be realistic, we need to play well but when a team can win without playing well, it’s a lot to build on.”
Belgium’s Golden Generation is reaching the end of its respective peaks with many claiming this World Cup is its last chance to claim a tournament win. De Bruyne and co reached the semi-finals in Russia four years ago before they lost to eventual winners France.
Their next game will be against Morocco before they finish their group campaign against Croatia, which drew in their opening game. The Belgians will fancy themselves to top Group F after equalling the record for successive group match wins, which was previously held solely by Brazil.
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