Morocco won the World Cup 2-0 against Belgium on Sunday at Al Thumama Stadium thanks to an outstanding second-half performance.
With a win, Roberto Martinez’s side would have been the second team, behind France, to seal their place in the knockout stage, but the Red Devils fell short.
Following the disallowance of Hakim Ziyech’s first-half free kick, the same technique paid benefits in the second half as Abdelhamid Sabiri placed Morocco on pace for only their third World Cup victory.
The victory was sealed in the dying minutes of the game, with Zakaria Aboukhlal thumping home from close range after Ziyech’s excellent effort, leaving Group F wide open with one round of games remaining.
Belgium saw the majority of possession early on and dictated play, Michy Batshuayi forcing an early save from Munir Mohamedi, who came into the side as a very late change for Yassine Bounou.
Having been on the back foot for the majority, Morocco thought they had scored on the brink of half-time as Ziyech’s free-kick found its way into the net, but Romain Saiss was offside and adjudged to have blocked Thibaut Courtois’ line of sight.
Lightning struck twice for Martinez’s side after the break, as Sabiri whipped in a dangerous free-kick to the near post which found its way past Courtois and, while Saiss was again in the proximity, there was no offside flag to save Belgium this time.
Any hope of a late fightback from Belgium was wiped away in added time, Ziyech winning the ball off a poor touch from Axel Witsel and teeing up for Aboukhlal to smash home.
What Happens To Belgium?
Winning their past eight group-stage matches at the World Cup, victory would have seen Belgium set an outright record in that regard, while they had not lost at this stage of the tournament since 1994.
Morocco, with just two wins from 17 previous fixtures at the tournament were largely unfancied before a ball was kicked in a group that contained two semi-finalists from Russia 2018, but they have avoided defeat against both.
A famous triumph inflicted Belgium’s first ever defeat to an African nation at the World Cup, and Morocco now just need a point against Canada to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 1986.
