Another shock at this World Cup as Morocco produced a brilliant 2-0 win over Belgium at the Al Thumama Stadium.
Action: The Belgian Red Devils were superior in the first period, commanding the rhythm of the game, having 70 percent possession, but struggling to get through the Moroccan defence.
The Atlas Lions thought they had gone a goal ahead just before half-time, when Chelsea's Hakim Ziyech's superb free-kick went in, but after a VAR check the goal was ruled out as Romain Saiss, despite not touching the ball, was right in front of Thibaut Courtois and the former Wolves' player was offside.
In the second-half, the north African nation started to believe they could beat the European country and on the other side, Belgium's performance remained very flat and predictible.
Hoalid Regragui's men were much better in the second half and always seemed closer to win then second rated nation in the FIFA world rankings.
Former Huddersfield player Abdelhamid Sabiri, came on during the second half and curled in a free kick from near the corner flag into the back of the net, giving a deserved lead to Morocco with less than 20 minutes to play.
Substitute Zakaria Aboukhlal added a second in stoppage time, after a fast counter-attack with Ziyech setting up Aboukhlal who fired in to seal the win for his nation.
With this win Morocco moved on to four points from two games with Belgium on three. Canada and Croatia meet later in Sunday's other Group F game.
Man of the match: Hakim Ziyech. Tremendous performance by the Bues' player, leading his team to a famous win. Created chances, got an assist and saw a goal harshly ruled out by VAR.
xG: Belgium (0.99) 0-2 (0.56) Morocco
Stat of the Day: Abdelhamid Sabiri has scored Morocco’s first ever direct free-kick goal at the World Cup, while it was the first direct free-kick goal scored by any nation at World Cup 2022.
More to follow.
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Romain Saiss 73' Zakaria Aboukhlal 90' |
