MICHY BATSHUAYI struck a first-half goal as Belgium opened its FIFA World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Canada in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.

Canada was denied an early lead by Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who dived low to his right to keep out an Alphonso Davies’ penalty.

So why Davies was given the chance to put his name in the record books as the country’s first-ever World Cup for the men’s national team? The superstar isn’t one to be shy of breaking records.

He was Canada’s youngest ever goalscorer and the youngest to score at a Gold Cup with his brace against French Guiana when he was 16.

Davies’ unlikely path to spearheading Canada’s first World Cup campaign in nearly four decades began in a West African refugee camp where children’s dreams are eclipsed by the need to survive.

Davies, a left back at Bayern Munich, was born in the Ghanaian refugee camp of Buduburam to Liberian parents who fled civil war in their country.

His family emigrated to Canada when he was 5.

The former refugee, now 22, has raised Canadian men’s soccer to new heights, becoming the youngest player to feature for the senior national team as a 16-year-old and the first Canadian to win the men’s Champions League Final.

He has pledged to donate his World Cup 2022 earnings to charity。

“I was in a refugee camp, people helped us, and I just want to give back to them,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing to do.”

The meteoric rise of Davies began at an elementary school in snowy Edmonton. Teachers noticed his exuberance, natural athleticism and precocious skill level and entered him into an after-school soccer league for inner-city children.

“Once I started playing organized soccer, parents, coaches and other teammates were telling me to keep going and that I could become something so I started believing it,” Davies was quoted as saying on the Bundesliga website.

“That’s what started me wanting to become a professional.”

Davies was a prodigy. At 14, he enrolled in the residency program of Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Vancouver Whitecaps and soon began making regular appearances for the senior team.

Davies joined Bayern for US$22 million in 2018, a record transfer fee for an MLS player, with his ear-to-ear grin and effervescent style on the pitch making him a fan favorite.

In 2020, he became the first North American player to be voted into the FIFPRO World XI by his peers.

“I think he has experienced a lot in his life, which enables him to have a threshold greater than most people to dare and to do and to bring his identity,” Canada manager John Herdman said.

“He just plays with that smile on his face. He gets kicked on the field, he just gets back up. There’s no theatrics, no rolling around.”

Davies’ brilliance was undeniable in Canada’s emphatic 4-1 win over Panama in World Cup qualifying.

In a move viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube, Davies made an 80-meter run down the wing, keeping the ball in touch, outsmarting a defender and finishing with a low strike to give Canada the lead.

“Alphonso’s goal was in essence a story of his life,” one user wrote in the comments under the clip. “Hard work, perseverance, dedication and never giving up.”

“A kid born in a refugee camp wasn’t supposed to make it,” Davies tweeted about making the Canada team for the World Cup finals. “Don’t let no one tell you that your dreams are unrealistic. Keep dreaming, keep achieving.”(SD-Agencies)