Kevin De Bruyne Feels He Didn’t Deserve MOTM After Lackluster Win Against Canada
The Belgian player Kevin De Bruyne has unexpectedly claimed that he was not given the Man of the Match title because of his abilities and performance in his inaugural match against Canada but “because of his name.” The claims aren’t exactly baseless because even his fans agree that De Bruyne has had better games than this lacklustre one.
De Bruyne, who plays for Manchester City in club football, was earlier named the player who stole the spotlight after Belgium, his national team, grabbed a lucky 1-0 win in their World Cup opener match against Canada.
Narrow victory for Belgium against Canada
Belgium’s first and only goal was scored by Michy Batshuayi, who scored in the first half. But do not let the stats in the scoreline speak for the game itself because it was Canada who were the favourites to win. Belgium being second best, and De Bruyne is out of form.
The sky-blue player was noticeably off the beat throughout the game; he could have done better. The fans were also quick to notice the difference in his play as they are used to seeing him play weekly in England for the Premier League, where he has won multiple Player of the Year awards.
Kevin de Bruyne makes shocking admission
“I didn’t play a good game. Maybe I was chosen because of my name,” he said after the lucky match was over; where Belgium had only made nine attempts to net the goal, whereas Canada had been dominating with a staggering 22 shots, even after having the underdog status.
Alphonso Davies from the Canadian front had missed a penalty in the first half, which could have been an equalizer for the Canadians and also later went on to generate several other opportunities ahead in the match, all of which remained fruitless.
The Belgian manager was also disappointed by the off-beat rhythm of De Bruyne, who has been setting his ambitions quite high going forward and taxing his players for the same. Earlier speaking with BBC, he had said,
“Canada deserved to be better than us in the way they played… It’s a win, and we need to play better and grow…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..”
Belgium’s prideful “Golden Generation” is at the twilight of its peak eras in their respective careers. This might be their last chance at the FIFA World Cup. Only their next match against Morocco and later Croatia will tell how their World Cup campaign unfolds because there is no place for lucky wins in the World Cup.
