Sam Adekugbe positive about Canada's chances

Back in the World Cup for the first time in 36 years, there was no shame in Canada losing to a Belgium. Given the impressive nature of their performance, the 1-0 defeat has done anything but dampen their World Cup hopes.

"We can go very far at this tournament," left-back Sam Adekugbe told DW. "We played [Belgium] the second-ranked team in the world. We dominated the game. We can take confidence [going forward]."

While fans unfamiliar with the Canucks story might have raised an eyebrow, the moment had been a long time coming for Adekugbe and his teammates. "We weren't surprised by our performance, we know we are a good team, and we deserve to be here."

Many of their travelling support have never seen a Canadian team feature at a World Cup with this being their first appearance since 1986 and the crowd had the stands inside the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium vibrating.

Their attacking forays and expansive play that pushed back the Belgians are sure to have won over neutrals with Toby Alderweireld admitting to DW that Belgium "had some luck". In one of the more unpredictable World Cups to date, Adekugbe now wants Canada to go one better against 2018 finalists Croatia.

"There's been a lot of surprises in this tournament so far. We've seen Saudi Arabia, we've seen Japan, so we know anything is possible, so we just must believe," said the midfielder, who plys his trade with Hatayspor in Turkey.

Immigrant joy

The Canadians have often had to live in the shadows of their neighbors the United States and Mexico but were propelled to the World Cup this year by a talented group of players with an immigration background. Seven of them were born outside of the country. 

Adekugbe, 27, is one of them having been born in England to Nigerian parents before moving to Canada when he was eight years old. Eligible to play for both the country of his birth and Nigeria, his ancestral homeland, he decided to play for Canada.

"I knew we had a good team, maybe in the past it was disappointing, but I knew what we had in the future, and we just had to get it out of ourselves. And we have now on the big stage," he said.

When he was substituted on in the 74th minute, his mother, Dee, was full of praise on social media post. "My son is in the World Cup! Yeah, baby! Thank you, Jesus, thank you Jesus! Hallelujah!"

However, his parents could not be at his first game due to having to attend his grandfather's funeral in Lagos. He's hoping they'll be at his last group game against Morocco, but his three sisters were in the stands against Belgium.

Making their chances count

Canada had a total 21 shots against Belgium, but lacked a calm and clinical touch on the world's biggest stage. "It was difficult, but I think we were the better team. [Belgium]  took their chances and they scored," said Adekugbe.

"The team is proud of their performance, but we know that the game is about winning and unfortunately we didn't win. But there's another game coming so we must make sure we win against Croatia."

Key to their hopes remains Alphonso Davies whose decent showing against the Red Devils was marred by a penalty miss. "I'm sure he's disappointed, he decided to take the responsibility and unfortunately it didn't go in today, but it will go in another time," Adekugba said of the Bayern star.

"We still have faith in him, we know he's our best player. Maybe he's sagged down but he played a good game so he shouldn't be disappointed."

The Canucks will count on their fans to keep their spirits up in Qatar with thousands of making the trip to see their side feature at a World Cup for the first time in 36 years. "Canada is a long way from Qatar but it felt like a home game, and we are very appreciative of the atmosphere created by the fans," Adekugbe said.

Now it's about turning that atmosphere into a positive result against Croatia as they look to keep their Group F.

Edited by James Thorogood