FIFA WC: World Cup full of upsets as Morocco down World No.2 side Belgium 2-0
In a FIFA World Cup which is turning up to be a bagful of surprises, it was the turn of Morocco to upset World No.2 side Belgium 2-0 in the Group F match of the football showpiece event at the Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday evening.
IANS
Nov 27, 2022 10:30
0
ARMSTRONG VAZ
Doha (Qatar), Nov 27 (IANS) In a FIFA World Cup which is turning up to be a bagful of surprises, it was the turn of Morocco to upset World No.2 side Belgium 2-0 in the Group F match of the football showpiece event at the Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday evening.
After a barren first half, substitutes Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal did the trick for Morocco, scoring in the 73rd minute and in the second minute of stoppage time.
For coach Walid Regragui, who took charge of Morocco in September the match against Belgium was his sixth game in charge and till now they have kept clean sheets in all six games with him at the helm of affairs.
This is Morocco's finest World Cup moment as the Atlas Lions scripted their third-ever win at a World Cup and stood a great chance to qualify for the knockout stage.
For Morocco, ranked 22, the two other World Cup wins came in 1998 when they trounced Scotland 3-0 and in 1986 when they stunned the football world with a 3-1 win over Portugal and qualified for the knockout stage.
The win, the first one in 24 years, sends Morocco into first place in the group with four points after having drawn goalless with 2018 runner-up Croatia, who take on Canada in the last match on Sunday.
Belgium, who were far from impressive in their first match of the group, which they won 1-0 against Canada have three points from two matches and next face Croatia.
Belgium stunned by Morocco is the third major upset of the championship which is in its eighth day.
In the earlier matches, Argentina ranked third on the FIFA computer, had crashed to a 2-1 loss against Saudi Arabia, ranked 51, while World No.11 Germany had lost by an identical score to Japan, who are ranked 13 places below the European giants.
