AL RAYAN, Qatar (AP) — Kevin De Bruyne threw up his hands in disgust after another bad pass. Eden Hazard loses balls with astonishing ease. The coach drawing the attention of Michy Batshuayi for a side kick to nobody.

Belgium took victory on their World Cup debut but left a lot to be desired.

Thibaut Courtois blocked an early penalty and Batshuayi scored the goal that was enough for Belgium to beat Canada 1-0 on Wednesday, spoiling the USA team’s return to the World Cup after a 36-year absence.

Apart from the result at the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium, Belgium had little to celebrate. De Bruyne, one of the best players in the world, ended up laughing at being awarded best of the game.

“I don’t think I played well,” De Bruyne said with a stern look on hearing he had won the award. “I don’t understand why they give me the trophy, maybe it’s because of my name.”

The Canadians are still hoping to pick up a point and even score a goal in four World Cup games. They lost all three of their commitments when they participated in Mexico City 1986.

But they took the initiative and had to mistreat Russia 2018 World Cup semi-finalists Belgium. Alphonso Davies – Canada’s benchmark – squandered the best chance of the night when his penalty was blocked by Courteous.

“Proud of the performance, but you have to take the three points in your first game,” lamented John Herdman, Canada’s England coach. “We missed the opportunity to be first in our group. That was the mission, but we failed.”

Early in the morning, Croatia and Morocco drew 0-0 to open Group F.

With an inoperative Hazard and an imprecise De Bruyne in ball circulation, Belgium crossed at long passes from the bottom. The tactic led to the goal at 44 minutes. Centre-back Toby Alderweireld caught the defense off guard with a pass between the lines and Batshuayi appeared to redirect it with his left foot towards the far post.

Batshuayi started because star Romelu Lukaku is suffering from a left thigh injury that could prevent him from playing the entire group stage.

Canada picked up 21 kills on the night to nine for Belgium, whose cast of veterans looked underappreciated.

Six of the Belgian starters are over 30, four with over 100 caps. Courtois and De Bruyne could reach triple figures in this World Cup, perhaps the last big opportunity for the so-called ‘golden generation’ of Belgian football.

The absence of predatory Lukaku in the box weighs heavily on Spanish coach Roberto Martínez’s team. Batshuayi didn’t do much besides his good definition.

Martínez acknowledged that Canada were superior to his team, but stressed the will to take the three points: “When a team is able to win when they are not playing well, then you have a good room for improvement.”

Cheered on by their raucous fans, Canada challenged Belgium with their display of mobility.

Davies caused anxiety all night with his outbursts on the left wing. Additionally, captain Atiba Hutchinson, at 39, became the oldest player to start a World Cup game.

The Canadians had 14 shots in the first half, the most by a team at the World Cup without scoring in 16 years.

On the second day of the group, Belgium will meet Morocco on Sunday. Canada will meet Croatia on the same day.