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Morocco Shocks Belgium at World Cup With Two Second-Half Goals

Abdelhamid Sabiri’s free kick stunned the Red Devils midway through the second half while Zakaria Aboukhlal added the second in stoppage time.

Andrew Gastelum

Morocco threw Group F into flux with only its third World Cup win ever—a stunning 2–0 upset victory over Belgium.

There was no doubting the Atlas Lions, particularly in the second half with a pair of goals from substitutes as Abdelhamid Sabiri scored on a free kick in the 73rd while Zakaria Aboukhlal added the second in stoppage time. The win sends Morocco into first place in the group of four points after having drawn 2018 runner-up Croatia.

Belgium wasn’t overly impressive in its first match at the World Cup—a 1–0 win over Canada—and that streak continued against a major underdog in Morocco even with a chance to advance to the knockouts with three points on Sunday.

Yet Morocco had trouble at the start reigning in the Hazard brothers (Eden and Thorgan), who started a World Cup game together for the first time. The duo forced a series of corners early (Belgium recorded four corners in the first 15 minutes) but Morocco withstood the chances with ease. 

In the 19th minute, Thomas Meunier pounced on Morocco’s failure to clear a routine chance, but his shot went directly at the keeper for an easy save. Morocco followed that chance with one of its own when Achraf Hakimi sent his shot from the edge of the box over the crossbar.

Courtois wasn’t bothered for most of the first half, but nearly got himself into trouble by holding the ball for too long at the edge of his goal.

Morocco closed out the first half with a dangerous free kick from Hakim Ziyech that resulted in a shock goal to seemingly take the 1–0 lead. However, a VAR review ruled that a Morocco player was offside as he lunged at the shot in front of Courtois. 

After halftime, Eden Hazard forced Morocco goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi into a save with a well-hit shot toward the post. 

Sofiane Boufal came close to giving Morocco the lead in the 57th minute, but his curling effort went just wide of the post although it was enough to scare Belgium.

The tempo continued for Morocco, who took the lead in the 73rd minute thanks to Sabiri. Just minutes after coming into the match as a substitute, the Sampdoria midfielder swept a free kick into the area that went untouched and into the back of the net for the 1–0 lead. 

Morocco then added another stunner in the 92nd minute courtesy of another sub in Aboukhlal. After Ziyech burst down the wing, the Chelsea forward found Aboukhlal in the middle of the box with a perfect pass to set up the insurance goal.

After facing the second- and third-place teams from the 2018 World Cup, Morocco will now face Canada on the final day while Belgium will take on Croatia. 

Here were the lineups for both teams:

Full World Cup Squads

Belgium

GOALKEEPERS: Koen Casteels (Wolfsburg), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge)

DEFENDERS: Toby Alderweireld (Royal Antwerp), Zeno Debast (Anderlecht), Leander Dendoncker (Aston Villa), Wout Faes (Leicester), Arthur Theate (Rennes), Jan Vertonghen (Benfica), Thomas Meunier (Borussia Dortmund), Timothy Castagne (Leicester)

MIDFIELDERS: Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Dortmund), Amadou Onana (Everton), Youri Tielemans (Belgium), Hans Vanaken (Club Brugge), Axel Witsel (Atletico Madrid),

FORWARDS: Michy Batshuayi (Fenerbahce), Charles De Ketelaere (AC Milan), Jérémy Doku (Rennes), Eden Hazard (Real Madrid), Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan), Dries Mertens (Galatasaray), Loïs Openda (Lens), Leandro Trossard (Brighton)

Morocco

GOALKEEPERS: Yassine Bounou (Sevilla), Munir Mohamedi (Al Wehda), Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (Wydad AC)

DEFENDERS: Nayef Aguerd (West Ham), Yahia Attiyat Allah (Wydad AC), Badr Benoun (Qatar SC), Achraf Dari (Brest), Jawad El Yamiq (Real Valladolid), Achraf Hakimi (PSG), Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich), Roman Saiss (Besiktas)

MIDFIELDERS: Selim Amallah (Standard Liege), Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina), Bilal El Khannous (Genk), Yahya Jabrane (Wydad AC), Azzedine Ounahi (Angers), Abdelhamid Sabiri (Sampdoria), Anass Zaroury (Burnley)

FORWARDS: Abde Ezzalzouli (Osasuna), Zakaria Aboukhlal (Toulouse), Sofiane Boufal (Angers), Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers), Walid Cheddira (Bari), Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla), Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Ittihad), Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea)

More World Cup Coverage:

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Andrew Gastelum
ANDREW GASTELUM

Andrew Gastelum is a programming editor and writer at Sports Illustrated who specializes in soccer, the Olympics and international sports. He joined the SI staff in March 2021 and previously contributed to Howler Magazine and NBC Sports. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame alum and is currently based in Italy.

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