Penalty-kick decision lingers in wake of Canada's World Cup-opening loss to Belgium

Chris Jones is in Qatar covering the men's World Cup for CBC Sports.

In the moments before the Canadian men played their first World Cup game in 36 years, Atiba Hutchinson, their 39-year-old captain, stretched out on the grass and looked up at the stadium lights.

It would have been understandable if Hutchinson had seemed nervous, having waited so long for this night. Or because his reward for his decades of patience was a game against Belgium, the second-ranked team in the world. 

He looked far from nervous. He looked serene. He looked happy. He half-closed his eyes and smiled, appearing very much like a man who had walked a million miles to the ocean, and had just caught his first glimpse of the water

That's what experience gives you.

Even in a case like Hutchinson at the World Cup — he has never done exactly this, at these heights — he has done something close to it dozens of times, and a reasonable facsimile hundreds of times, and a reduced version thousands of times.

His much younger teammates, particularly the ones tasked with scoring goals, have not. They were sometimes terrific, optimistic, confident on a hugely fun night. They were also less than clinical, and the Canadians lost 1-0.

In the eighth minute, Tajon Buchanan took a shot that Belgium's Yannick Carrasco blocked with his hand. Canada was awarded a penalty. Alphonso Davies lined up to take it.

Davies, as well as having a terrific chance to give his side an early lead, was also set to score the first goal for Canada in men's World Cup history. During Canada's only other appearance at the tournament in 1986, the men were shut out in three consecutive defeats.

The referee took seemingly forever to organize things. Davies waited, staring at the grass. Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, a giant in every sense, stared instead at him.

Last week in Dubai, the Canadians played one last tune-up, a friendly against the Japanese. They were awarded a penalty in the dying seconds of added time for a chance to win the game.

Jonathan David, who is on a torrid goal-scoring pace with Ligue 1 club Lille, seemed poised to take it. Then Lucas Cavallini, El Tanque to his teammates, took the ball from him.

Head coach John Herdman looked at his bench. "If he tries a Panenka, I'm gonna kill him," he said.

Cavallini did try a Panenka — a soft, looping shot down the middle of the net, designed to put the ball where the diving goalkeeper used to be but no longer is. He barely scuffed the ball over the line.