Morocco caused one of the biggest upsets of the World Cup as they produced one of the narrow World Cup results of the weekend action. Saiss assisted Abdelhamid Sabiri’s free kick in the 73rd minute, beating Thibaut Courtois at his near post. In stoppage time of the second half, Aboukhlal converted Hakim Ziyech’s cross to complete a historic victory. The North Africans join Saudi Arabia and Japan, who defeated Germany and Argentina respectively, in defying the odds and shocking opponents who have historically enjoyed sustained success in the international arena.
Before facing the highly anticipated Europeans, who had not lost a group match since 1994, Morocco had failed to score in 53% of their World Cup matches. The game kicked off as most would have predicted, and it didn’t help that Morocco was forced to substitute Munir El Kajoui for Yassine Bounou just moments before the game’s start. Munir, who represents Saudi Arabia in club football, was forced into action early to stop Michy Batshuayi from scoring the game-winning goal for Belgium against Canada. The ex-Chelsea striker had received a sharp pass from Thorgan Hazard but lacked the cunning to defeat the replacement goalkeeper.
Morocco’s involvement in the game came much more gradually, but the bulk of the Moroccan fans at the Al Thumama Stadium felt wronged when Ziyech’s free-kick was ruled off by VAR. This feeling of injustice persisted until the second half. Saiss, who unlike the Chelsea winger’s delivery 30 minutes earlier did manage to make contact, flicked Sabiri’s right-footed free kick past a despairing Courtois before the loss undoubtedly did not disrupt Morocco’s players. Sofian Boufal and Ziyech increased their influence. Then, after Ziyech’s clever cutback, Aboukhlal added the finishing touches to an unbelievable victory by firing beyond Courtois once more from his close post.
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