Morocco make history with victory over Belgium: Take-Aways

Qatar’s World Cup is turning into a tournament of surprises, with Morocco the latest African nation to cause an upset, beating Belgium 2-0 on Sunday afternoon. 

Kevin de Bruyne attempted to alleviate pressure on his own team in midweek by suggesting they had no chance at winning the tournament, yet this backfired in spectacular fashion. 

Roberto Martinez‘s charges were slack, sloppy and second-best in a battle against a highly-motivated Moroccan outfit. 

Having only just overcome Canada in the opening match, the European side needed to raise their performance levels, but simply could not match the motivation of their opponents. 

• This is Belgium’s 50th match in FIFA World Cup history and they lost.

Take-Aways From Morocco’s Historic Defeat Of Belgium

 • This is Morocco’s first win in the FIFA World Cup since a 3-0 victory over Scotland in 1998 and just their third win in the competition overall.

 • All three victories in the FIFA World Cup for Morocco have come against European teams: 2-0 v. Belgium (27 November 2022), 3-0 v. Scotland (23 June 1998), 3-1 v. Portugal (11 June 1986).

 • Morocco have not conceded a goal in their last six international matches.

• Zakaria Aboukhlal becomes Morocco’s third-youngest goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history at the age of 22 years and 282 days.

 • Abdelhamid Sabiri has scored his second international goal just a day before his 26 th birthday.