World Cup 2022: Morocco upsets Belgium
The Atlas Lions shut-out Belgium’s golden generation as they have taken a massive chance for qualification to the round of 16 of this World Cup 2022.
It was Abdelhamid Sabiri day as he helped Morocco shock Belgium with co-substitute Aboukhlal securing the two goals in the second half. Kevin de Bruyne expressed his anger and deep disappointment towards the result as he saw his team being unmotivated, sloppy, and slow which they did not match the intensity that Morocco displayed. For World Cup football live scores and fresh updates here!
This Belgium squad was solid and a championship caliber on paper, but on the field, they are like an average team giving games like freebies. The team were frowning faces and drooping shoulders, and miseries that limited their optimism playing in this world cup, despite having the great Roberto Martinez as their coach. De Bruyne summarized the performance of Belgium from the past two games as having “no chance” of winning the World Cup.
The Clear gap between Morocco and Belgium
Throughout the game, Morocco’s aggressiveness and eagerness to perform at the highest level, the hunger for glory, and thirst of upsetting contenders was on full display. While Belgium was seen as fragile, unprepared, and drab. Abdelhamid Sabiri of Morocco saw it as their advantage and take it as an opportunity to easily zag the defense of fragile Belgium as he registered a successful free-kick from the corner and made a memorable stare from the Morocco fans and electrify them to boost the team of edging the more favored Belgium side. The aggressive offense of Morocco continued as Abouhklal fired a low shot in stoppage time to seal the deal and put Belgium into total misery and endangering them to early group stage exit.
“It’s a difficult result. We couldn’t get our game going. It’s a game we need to understand; we need to be together and react. That’s what happens at the World Cup,” said Roberto Martinez after the game. “We had good moments but we couldn’t create clear chances. If you concede a goal like that changes the game radically. We lost our composure and we couldn’t break them down. The game went away from us the moment we conceded the first goal.”
After a draw against Croatia, Morocco now sits at the second spot of Group F standing behind Croatia who also thrashed Canada 4-1. This is Morocco’s third win in the World Cup and they are likely to have an impressive run in this edition. Given their performance against top-tier Belgium, they will have an easy second win this tournament against Canada.
While Belgium, they will face a critical final group stage game against formidable team Croatia led by veteran Luka Modric. If they lose against Croatia, the 2022 World Cup campaign of Belgium will end with the most disappointing output from their stacked talents, the so-called “golden generation.”
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