DOHA: Substitutes Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal earned Morocco their first World Cup victory in 24 years as they upset a hugely disappointing Belgium side 2-0 in World Cup Group F.The Morocco fans gave the match a vintage World Cup feel in a boiling atmosphere at the Al Thumama Stadium and Sabiri curled a wide free-kick past Thibaut Courtois before Aboukhlal netted in stoppage time to put Morocco top of Group F with four points, one ahead of Belgium. It was Morocco's first win at a World Cup since they beat Scotland in 1998. They left the 2018 tournament with a single point. Belgium, who had scraped a 1-0 win over Canada in their opening game, again looked a pale shadow of the team who finished third in 2018 and climbed to second in the world rankings.

They must now battle for a last-16 spot against Croatia.  The Red Devils' poor display even forced coach Roberto Martinez to send Romelu Lukaku on for the last 10 minutes in a desperate attempt to salvage a point, even though the burly striker had been struggling with a hamstring problem.Croatia, who have a point from their draw with Morocco, play Canada in the other Group F game later on Sunday. In a lively start, Morocco looked happy to sit and wait amid the deafening whistles of their fans, although bouts of intense pressing led to a couple of dangerous counter-attacks with Hakim Ziyech the main threat.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 28 2022

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