Morocco edged closer to securing their spot in the FIFA World Cup last 16 after defeating Belgium 2-0 on Sunday afternoon.
2022 FIFA World Cup
Result: Belgium 0-2 Morocco
Date: 27 November 2022
Venue: Al Thumama Stadium
The Red Devils made three changes to the side that edged Canada, as Thomas Meunier, Amadou Onana and Thorgan Hazard were recalled while Michy Batshuayi continued to lead the front line in place of Romelu Lukaku, who is recovering from a thigh injury.
Morocco faced a lot of pressure from Belgium in early stages, particularly from set-plays, with goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi severely tested after he replaced Sevilla's Yassine Bounou, who was ruled out after initially making the line-up.
However, the Atlas Lions grew in the game midway through the first stanza and Achraf Hakimi had a good chance shortly before the half-hour mark after arriving unmarked at the back post but he fired his volley over the crossbar.
Walid Regragui's charges continued to find spaces on counter-attacks and Hakim Ziyech found the back of the net on the stroke of half-time with a curling free-kick that evaded shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois but his goal was disallowed for offside after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review.
The sides were unrelenting going at each early in the second stanza and Sofiane Boufal came the closest to breaking the deadlock for Morocco shortly before the hour-mark after going through on a turn in the box but his low curling shot missed the bottom corner narrowly wide.
Roberto Martinez had seen enough after that as he made a double attack-minded change, with Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens tasked with getting Belgium back into the game.
Mertens obliged just five minutes later, as he made Mohamedi sweat with a cracking shot from the edge of the box that encouraged the Red Devils.
However, Morocco remained a threat going forward and Abdelhamid Sabiri eventually broke the deadlock on 73rd minute with a clever swerving free-kick from a diagonal area that caught Courtois unaware at the near post.
Martinez had a last throw of a dice in the last nine minutes as he eventually brought on Lukaku in place of Meunier in a tactical switch, to try to rescue the game.
Belgium had the momentum in the dying minutes but the Atlas Lions were more threatening on counter-attacks and Zakaria Aboukhlal sealed the maximum points for the North African side with a first-time strike into the top corner after he was setup by Ziyech.
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