Morocco edged closer to qualifying for the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup with a stunning 2-0 win over Belgium, sparking spontaneous popular celebrations across the North African Kingdom.
After a scoreless draw with Croatia in their tournament opener, the Atlas Lions shone in their second game played Sunday at the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha against Belgium’ s “the Red Devils”.
From the start, Morocco played with clear plan and executed it perfectly. During the first half, Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech’s opened the score from a free kick before it was ruled out by VAR.
In the second half, the Atlas Lions continued to believe in their chances. They scored their first goal by a similar strike by Abdelhamid Sabiri who whipped the ball past Courtois and into the net with 15 minutes of normal time left. His fellow substitute Zakaria Aboukhlal added a second in stoppage time leaving the Belgians in shock.
The Atlas Lions take currently the lead of Group F with Croatia which crashed Canada 4-1. The Moroccans haven’t made it past the group stage since 1986 but today’s victory rekindles hopes of World Cup history.
