Morocco moved to the top of Group F with a well-deserved 2-0 victory against Belgium, leaving their opponents fighting to qualify for the World Cup.
Morocco overcame a sluggish start to produce better chances in the final third, and goals from Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhial gave the Atlas Lions just their third triumph in the history of this competition. The full 90 minutes at the Al Thumama Stadium were close.
Morocco now holds the top slot with four points, but Belgium has some work to do to advance to the round of 16. Their fate will only be in their own hands if Croatia fails to overcome Canada.
In addition, Belgium loses a chance to go 16 games in a row in the group stages of this competition without suffering a loss; this defeat is their first since the 1994 competition.
In contrast to their previous game against Canada, Belgium showed off their skills early on. Michy Batshuayi finished a fluid team play with a shot that Munir Mohamedi deflected behind.
Amadou Onana could have performed better with a header after beating Mohamedi to a corner as Belgium continued to dominate without the Red Devils producing any clear-cut chances.
After 20 minutes, Morocco eventually got the better of their opponents when Hakim Ziyech swerved a long shot just wide of the crossbar.
Although Achraf Hakimi missed the target with a shot after finding space in the penalty area as the first half went on, Morocco was starting to look more dangerous.
When Ziyech’s free-kick eluded everyone and was deflected into the net by Thibaut Courtois, Walid Regragui’s team believed they had grabbed the lead with the final play of the first half.
Romain Saiss, while not having touched the ball, was slightly out of bounds, which affected the scenario by obstructing Courtois’s line of vision and resulted in the goal being disallowed.
Following the restart, both teams came out firing, with Ziyech forcing Courtois to make a straightforward save before Eden Hazard set himself up for an opportunity on the right side of the box and forced Mohamedi into a stop at his near post.
Back at the other end, Dries Mertens could have done better with a shot from 20 yards immediately after coming in as a replacement than Sofiane Boufal, who just missed getting enough curl on his effort targeted for the far corner.
With 16 minutes left, the score remained unchanged until the same conditions as the earlier goal that had been disallowed were repeated.
Saiss kept his position when going over Courtois in this instance, which allowed Abdelhamid Sabiri’s cross-corner strike to go straight into the far corner.
In response, Roberto Martinez substituted Romelu Lukaku into the match before his anticipated comeback from injury, but it was Jan Vertonghen’s header that nearly levelled the score for Belgium, the ball going just wide of the far post.
As Belgium pushed players forward, an additional room opened up at the opposite end of the field, which the African country took advantage of to score the game-winning goal in stoppage time.
Zakaria Aboukhlal accomplished the rest with a first-time finish into the top of Courtois’s goal, setting off joyful celebrations on the field and in the spectators after tremendous work from Ziyech allowed him to find space inside the area.
