An emotional Achraf Hakimi went over to his mother in the stands and gave her a kiss after Morocco registered a historic victory over Belgium. The Atlas Lions beat Belgium 2-0 in a crucial Group F encounter in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Second half goals from Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal helped Morocco script a remarkable win over Belgium in the FIFA World Cup.
Morocco powered themselves to a surprise victory after beating Belgium 2-0 in a World Cup group stage game on Sunday.
The Africans claimed the vital victory after Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal's second-half goals.
Sabiri’s opener was Morocco’s first-ever direct free-kick goal at the World Cup. The game was was also the first time that the Atlas Lions recorded consecutive clean sheets at the World Cup since 1986.
The goals sparked wild celebrations at the Al Thumama Stadium as Morocco picked up a victory that significantly boosts their chances of progressing to the Round of 16.
He did well to man-mark Eden Hazard, and this limited Belgium’s source of creativity in the final third.
Hakimi was also quick to join the attack, and in the 26th minute, he won an aerial ball and passed it to Selim Amallah, whose shot went high as he was partially blocked from having a full view of the goal area.
Before he was substituted, he had managed to close the space on his wing and denied Belgium chances to launch persistent attacks.
He made a vital tackle that brought De Bruyne down in the 10th minute. Had he not taken the decision to confront the Belgian, the Manchester City man could have caused havoc in Morocco's penalty box.
As the captain, he led by example, cleared aerial balls, tackled key Belgian players, and produced defense-splitting passes that the opponents found hard to deal with.
The game got off to a very quick start as Ziyech went past Castagne and delivered a cross into the box. But it was collected by Courtois and the move kind of set the tempo for the half as both teams created chances.
Belgium's best opportunity came in the fifth minute as Thorgan Hazard's pass found Michy Batshuayi in the box. However, the former Chelsea striker's shot was expertly blocked by the Moroccan goalkeeper Munir Mohand Mohamedi.
Morocco finally got their deserved lead in the 73rd minute with Sabiri's free-kick from a tight angle, that went underneath a diving Courtois.
Morocco would then deliver the killer blow in the second minute of stoppage time as Ziyech delivered a top pass to Aboukhlal who made no mistake to add the second goal for the Atlas Lions and seal all three points.
Speaking after the match, as quoted by Reuters, Martinez admitted that the best version of his team hasn't been visible in this year's tournament and that they played with the fear of losing against Morocco.
"We haven't been the best Belgium at this World Cup yet. Today I thought we played with the fear of losing. Without the ball, we still work for each other but when we have the ball, we don't stand out, we are not ourselves. We have to work on that. We have to stay together now and become stronger,” said Martinez.
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