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Belgium Beaten By Morocco After Abdelhamid Sabiri Scores Qatar 2022's First Free-Kick Goal

Belgium 0-2 Morocco. Abdelhamid Sabiri scored the first direct free-kick goal of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as Morocco beat Belgium.

Robert Summerscales

Belgium Beaten By Morocco After Abdelhamid Sabiri Scores Qatar 2022's First Free-Kick Goal
Belgium Beaten By Morocco After Abdelhamid Sabiri Scores Qatar 2022's First Free-Kick Goal /

Belgium 0-2 Morocco

Morocco claimed only their third win in World Cup history by upsetting Belgium at Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday.

Goals from Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal inspired Morocco to a deserved victory over the side ranked second in the world by FIFA.

Morocco had not won a World Cup match since 1998 but they are now well placed to qualify from Group F for the round of 16 at Qatar 2022.

Abdelhamid Sabiri pictured celebrating after scoring in Morocco's 2-0 win over Belgium at the 2022 World Cup
Abdelhamid Sabiri pictured celebrating after scoring in Morocco's 2-0 win over Belgium at the 2022 World Cup :: IMAGO/Belga/Bruno Fahy

Meanwhile, Belgium must get a result against Croatia in their final group game or they will be eliminated from the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Morocco had the ball in the Belgian net twice from direct free-kicks, but the first was disallowed for offside against Romain Saiss.

Saiss had attempted to head Hakim Ziyech's first-half free-kick past Thibaut Courtois but he failed to connect with the ball, only to see it fly straight in.

Ziyech's celebrations were put on hold by a VAR review that eventually found that Saiss had been interfering with play.

The presence of Saiss distracted Courtois again on 73 minutes when the ball evaded both men from a Sabiri free-kick taken from near the corner flag.

But this time Saiss had not been offside so the goal was given. It was the first direct free-kick scored by any player at the 2022 World Cup.

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Aboukhlal scored Morocco's second goal in added time.

It came after excellent play by Ziyech as he skinned Timothy Castagne before teeing up Aboukhlal, who found the top corner with a controlled finish from nine yards.

Morocco manager Walid Regragui celebrated a la Jose Mourinho in 2004 by sprinting down the touchline.

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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.

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