Morocco stun Belgium to claim long-awaited win
Substitutes Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal earned Morocco their first World Cup victory in 24 years as they upset a hugely disappointing Belgium side 2-0 in World Cup Group F on Sunday.
The Morocco fans gave the match a vintage World Cup feel in a boiling atmosphere at the Al Thumama Stadium and Sabiri curled a wide free kick past Thibaut Courtois before Aboukhlal netted in stoppage time to put Morocco top of Group F with four points, one ahead of Belgium.
It was Morocco’s first win at a World Cup since they beat Scotland in 1998. They left the 2018 tournament with a single point.
Belgium, who had scraped a 1-0 win over Canada in their opening game, again looked a pale shadow of the team who finished third in 2018 and climbed to second in the world rankings. They must now battle for a last-16 spot against Croatia.
The Red Devils’ poor display even forced coach Roberto Martinez to send Romelu Lukaku on for the last 10 minutes in a desperate attempt to salvage a point, even though the burly striker had been struggling with a hamstring problem.
In a lively start, Morocco looked happy to sit and wait amid the deafening whistles of their fans, although bouts of intense pressing led to a couple of dangerous counter-attacks with Hakim Ziyech the main threat.
As Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne struggled to find his range and Eden Hazard remained largely ineffective, Morocco looked safe.
Courtois was beaten for the first time in the tournament when Ziyech fired a free kick into the pack and it bounced past the keeper at the near post on the stroke of halftime.
Romain Saiss, however, was marginally offside and referee Carlos Ramos ruled the goal out after a VAR review as the Besiktas defender was obstructing Courtois’ view.
Morocco started to fancy their chances and were more on the attack with Sofiane Boufal’s shot from just inside the box going just wide after the break.
Belgium were out of sorts and Martinez sent Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens on to replace Amadou Onana and Eden Hazard.
Mertens had an immediate impact, forcing El Kajoui, who stood in minutes before kickoff for Yassine Bounou, into a superb save with a fierce shot.
Morocco substitute Sabiri broke the deadlock in the 73rd with an angled free kick similar to the one that led to the ruledout goal in the first half, as Courtois could only fumble the ball into the net.
Saiss was also in the way, but onside this time, and Morocco defended tooth and nail until they found another opening, with Aboukhlal clipping Ziyech’s cross into the roof of the net as the stadium boiled over.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu believes his team still have a shot at the last 16 and can even beat former champions Spain, despite their dismal 1-0 defeat to a Costa Rica side that let in seven goals in their opening match.
The four-times Asian champions, who stunned Germany with a 2-1 win in their Group E opener, spurned a perfect chance to advance to the next phase on Sunday with a match remaining, conceding late on to a team that scored with their first shot on target of the Qatar World Cup.
Japan looked sluggish, static and out of ideas on how to beat a Costa Rica side that went for a rigid back five to prevent more goal haemorrhaging.