Canada get first World Cup goal, Morocco upset Belgium… highlights of Day 8

Day eight of the 2022 FIFA World Cup saw some history made as Canada scored their first goal of the Mundial despite a 4-1 defeat to Croatia on Sunday.

With the defeat, Canada were eliminated from the competition, having lost 0-1 to Belgium in their opening game.

Meanwhile, Morocco, one of the five African representatives, had a superb second-half performance against Belgium — the world’s number two-ranked nation — with a 2-0 victory at Al Thumama Stadium.

The Atlas Lions finally recorded a win at the World Cup — 24 years after they last defeated Scotland at France 1998.

Here are four major talking points from Day 8.

Davies the history maker

After qualifying for their first World Cup since 1986, Canada entered the tournament as underdogs. Despite the 1-0 loss to Belgium, John Herdman’s side was not going to go down without a fight. 

They started off strong against Croatia, opening up the scoring in the second minute of the match with a header by Alphonso Davies. The Bayern Munich player will go down in history for recording Canada’s first-ever World Cup goal.

The goal is also the fastest of the 2022 World Cup, thus far.

But they lost 4-1 to Croatia.

Japan paid back in their own coin

It was payback time for Japan who stunned the 2014 world champions Germany 2-1 in their first match.

The Japanese thought they would overpower Costa Rica who were annihilated 7-0 by Spain. But the Asians met the shock of their lives.

Costa Rica’s players spent most of Sunday’s game on the backfoot but came on top with right-back Keysher Fuller’s beautiful curler in the 81st minute — which happened to be their first and only shot on target at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.

Morocco end miserable record

The Atlas Lions last won a game at the World Cup in 1998 in a match against Scotland. 

But on Sunday evening, they were inspired by Chelsea’s attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech who helped them to defeat Belgium 2-0.

Morocco’s captain Romain Saiss gave his team the lead in the 73rd minute before Zakaria Aboukhlal guided a shot into the net off a pass from Hakim Ziyech in stoppage time to make it 2-0.

Germany get lifeline

The Germans needed a positive result to give themselves the chance of not exiting the tournament.

Álvaro Morata put Spain ahead in the 62nd minute before Füllkrug equalized for Germany.

The four-time champions were eliminated in the group stage four years ago in Russia.

Germany will be playing Costa Rica in their next match. Even a win may not be enough for the Germans, who are in last place in Group E and need the other result to go their way.