Belgium are on the brink of equalling a World Cup record that is currently held by Brazil.

The Red Devils, who have recently held the number one spot in the FIFA world rankings, have been tipped to win a major tournament since the emergence of their so-called golden generation.

However, Belgium have only registered quarter-final and semi-final finishes at the last two World Cups, and only reached the last eight of of the previous two European Championships.

Roberto Martinez's side are now only regarded as one of the dark horses to lift the Jules Rimet trophy in Qatar, particularly with Romelu Lukaku struggling with injury and Eden Hazard having failed to achieve regular game time at Real Madrid.

Nevertheless, Belgium go into Wednesday's encounter against Canada in Group F with the opportunity to achieve something only done by Brazil.

In the past, the five-time winners have recorded eight successive group-stage wins, firstly between 1986 and 1994 and secondly between 2002-2010.

As it stands, Belgium sit on seven victories in a row, not losing a round-robin game since they went down to Saudi Arabia in the 1994 edition.

Although draws have been registered since that loss in the United States, Belgium are undefeated in 12 group games, and their winning streak started in 2002 when they edged a five-goal thriller with Russia.

In 2014, Belgium were placed in a group involving Algeria, Russia and South Korea, posting a comeback 2-1 win against the former before beating the other two teams by a 1-0 scoreline.

Four years later, Panama, Tunisia and England were their opponents before the knockout stages, with only England being competitive as an Adnan Januzaj goal early in the second half proved to be the difference.

From Canada's perspective, they have lost their only three matches at a World Cup, the Maple Leafs competing in their second edition having not participated since 1986. body check tags ::