Morocco Defeat Belgium : Morocco produced a big performance to defeat Belgium by 2-0 on Sunday afternoon during the second round of group matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup as the African team remain unbeaten in Qatar.
The match took place at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha.
Abdelhamid Sabiri of Sampdoria and Toulouse forward Zakaria Aboukhlal scored the goals in the 73rd and 92nd minutes respectively.
Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bono of Sevilla pulled out of the match after he had warmed up and sang the national anthem alongside his friends. Bono reportedly felt uneasiness just before the start of the match. In his place , second choice Munir of Al Wehda played and went ahead to keep a clean sheet against the Europeans.
Substitute Sabiri ( who replaced Selim Amallah in the 68th minute) beat goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois with a superb free kick from to put The Atlas Lions ahead.
Belgium continued to look for an equalizer but things got messier at stoppage time as France-based striker Aboukhlal guided a shot into the roof of the net from an initial effort of Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech.
Belgium who paraded usual names Eden Hazard , Kevin De Bruyne , Thorgan Hazard , Axel Witsel , Michy Bastshuayi and the rest failed to sparkle against the North Africans who claimed a great win despite enjoying just 33% of ball possession. The Africans were still able to match the four shots on target of Belgium who had 67% of ball possession.
The win of Morocco against the Red Devils is more remarkable as Belgium are currently ranked second in the world by FIFA ; only behind Brazil.
Morocco are still unbeaten at the World Cup in Qatar after drawing their opening match 0-0 against Croatia.
Morocco’s Group Stage Record
The North Africans are appearing at the World Cup for the sixth time ; 1970 , 1986 , 1994 , 1998 , 2018 and 2022. However they have only managed to advanced from the group stage once at Mexico 1986 where their impressive run was ended by West Germany in the Round of 16.
But after picking four points in two matches played , Morocco are in charge of Group F and will be hoping to keep their form against Canada in their final group game on December 1st.
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