(From The Canadian Press) Canada will face Belgium, Morocco and Croatia in Group F in the opening group stage of the World Cup in Qatar this November.

The Canadian men are ranked 38th in the world compared to No. 2 for Belgium, No. 16 for Croatia and No, 24 Morocco.

Canada was the last ball taken in the draw.

The Canadians drew France, Hungary and the Soviet Union as first-round opponents in their only other visit to soccer's showcase — Mexico '86. Canada lost all three matches and was outscored 5-0.

Friday's draw had Canada in Pot 4, which featured the lowest-ranked qualified teams. Rules of the draw meant that the Canadians could not be put in a group with fellow CONCACAF qualifiers Mexico and the U.S.

BELGIUM

Confederation: UEFA
FIFA ranking: 1
Team nickname: The Red Devils
Previous World Cup appearances: 13
Honours: None.
Head coach: Roberto Martinez
Star players: Kevin De Bruyne (Man City), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea), Eden Hazard (Real Madrid)

Ranked number one in the world since September 2018, Belgium finished third in Russia following a narrow 1-0 defeat to France in the semi-final. Tournament favourites at Euro 2020, defeat to eventual winners Italy in the quarter-final has left many to wonder if the 2022 World Cup is the last opportunity for this ‘golden generation’.

All-time leading scorer Romelu Lukaku has endured a difficult time in the Premier League with Chelsea this season (five goals in 19 appearances) but continues to score on a regular basis for the national side – his tally now stands at 68 goals from 101 appearances. However, he failed to score in any of the 4 post-group stage matches at the 2018 finals.

Head coach Roberto Martinez’s contract ends after the World Cup and with regular links to a return to managing club football, it seems likely he will move on after six years in charge – he is set to stay with the tried and tested 3 at the back with Witsel and Tielemans anchoring the midfield with Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard providing the ammunition for Lukaku.

Kevin Kilbane's take: “Belgium have obviously failed to live up to the billing of the world’s No. 1 team in the last couple of tournaments. Certainly the Euro is fresh in our minds and they flattered to deceive, I felt, given the fact that they had Kevin De Bruyne, who wasn’t quite fit coming into the tournament, Eden Hazard, who wasn’t showing his best form coming into the tournament, and several other players in that side who probably need to make their mark on this tournament. This is the ‘golden generation’ under Roberto Martinez and did not really hit the heights that we would have expected – that is the heights of winning a major tournament with the calibre of players they’ve got. So they’ve underachieved in many people’s eyes and that’s probably in my eyes, too. If they are going to be considered that really top-class team, they have to win a tournament and they haven’t done that up to now, but they certainly have the talent to do it.”

Head-to-head v Canada: 1-0

CROATIA

Confederation: UEFA
FIFA ranking: 15
Team nickname: Vatreni
Previous World Cup appearances: 5
Honours: None
Head coach: Zlatko Dalic
Star players: Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Ivan Perisic (Inter), Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea)

Having failed to progress from the group stage in three consecutive World Cups, Croatia finished runners-up in 2018 following a 4-2 final defeat to France in Moscow. However, a disappointing Euro 2020 (losing 5-3 to Spain in Round of 16) has led to concerns that Croatia will struggle to find long term replacements for the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Dejan Lovren.

Appointed in October 2017, head coach Zlatko Dalic, recently signed a contract that will take him up to the end of the Euro 2024 campaign and nevertheless it is hoped he will bring through emerging talent such as Josip Stanisic (Bayern Munich) and Luka Ivanusec (Dinamo Zagreb).

Despite a population of just over 4 million people, Croatia has provided international football with great teams since their inaugural tournament at Euro 1996 and another lengthy run can’t be ruled out.

Steven Caldwell's take: “Croatia is a good footballing side that will certainly control possession in most games that they play, but they’re maybe missing the firepower to go all the way. And there’s the old legend Luka Modric. Can he keep it going and be the linchpin and leader of that team to get them in contention?”

Head-to-head v Canada: The nations have never previously met.

MOROCCO

Confederation: CAF
FIFA ranking: 24
Team nickname: Atlas Lions
Previous World Cup appearances: 5
Honours: AFCON (1): 1976
Head coach: Vahid Halilhodzic
Star players: Achraf Hakimi (PSG), Tarik Tissoudali (Genk), Ryan Mmaee (Ferencvaros)

Having failed to qualify for four consecutive World Cups between 2002 and 2014, Morocco have now reached successive finals after a 5-2 aggregate win against the Democratic Republic of Congo followed a successful group stage campaign in which they won all six matches, scoring 20 and conceding only once.

The Atlas Lions finished bottom of their group in 2018, but that does not tell the full story. Their first match ended in a 1-0 defeat to Iran following a 95th-minute own goal, their second a narrow 1-0 defeat to Portugal and their third a 2-2 draw with Spain, who required an injury-time Iago Aspas equalizer.

Victory against DR Congo ensured that Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic became the first coach to lead four different nations to World Cup qualification, having previously done so with Cote D'Ivoire (though he was sacked prior to the tournament), Algeria and Japan (once again, he sacked prior to the start of the tournament). The fiery Halilhodzic has caused controversy in Morocco by omitting Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech from the squad since June 2021, so the star quality currently comes from PSG’s Achraf Hakimi, arguably the best right-back in world football.

Head-to-head v Canada: 2-1-0

CANADA

Confederation: CONCACAF
FIFA ranking: 33
Previous World Cup appearances: 1
Honours: Gold Cup (2): 1985, 2000
Head coach: John Herdman
Star players: Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Cyle Larin (Besiktas), Jonathan David (Lille)

Thirty-six years after their last (and only) appearance at the World Cup where they lost all three matches and failed to score, Canada secured qualification for Qatar 2022 with a 4-0 home win against Jamaica. Ranked 122nd in the world not long after the 2014 finals their rise has been remarkable, but as co-hosts in 2026 they may now remain in focus on the international stage for a while yet.

Leading them to the finals is Englishman John Herdman who will become the first coach at both the men’s and women’s World Cup – he led the women’s side to the quarter-final in 2015 (where they lost to England) as well as collecting two Olympic bronze medals.

Herdman is arguably blessed with Canada’s most competitive squad – Alphonso Davies may be a household name, but forwards Cyle Larin (Besiktas) and Jonathan David (Lille) have been showcasing their talent in the Champions League this season with Jonathan Osorio (Toronto FC) and captain Atiba Hutchinson (Besiktas) providing experience in midfield. Aged 39, Hutchinson could become the oldest outfield player to feature at a World Cup since Denmark’s Jan Heintze in 2002.