Belgium 0-2 Morocco (Saiss 73′, Aboukhlal 90+2)
AL THUMAMA STADIUM — In a World Cup of plentiful shocks, Morocco beating Belgium cannot really be put alongside Saudi Arabia’s humbling of Argentina, or Japan’s sensational comeback against Germany, because Kevin De Bruyne was right: Belgium really don’t have any chance of winning the World Cup.
The only surprise is the Manchester City midfielder’s words from his pre-tournament interview published this week rang true sooner than expected. If this “golden generation”, which has been coming to the end of its cycle for some time, was going to fall short in Qatar it would likely be against a superior nation in the knockout stages. Progressing from a World Cup group is their forte.
A record ninth successive win in the World Cup group stages, a run stretching across four tournaments, was surely on the cards against a Moroccan side without a victory in international football’s showpiece event in 24 years. After the most comfortable of 2-0 successes over Roberto Martinez’s side for the Africans, it appears Belgium force is fading faster than anyone previously thought.
Perhaps he was in fact focusing on taking a stand against discrimination after all, because what Eden Hazard offered on the pitch was as meek as his moral compass. A shadow of his former self, Hazard is the personification of a team whose best years are behind them.
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At one point in the second half, De Bruyne looked so exasperated by passes going astray that he continued to stare straight ahead, with the action going on behind him. This is not Manchester City, or anything close to that level. That had become abundantly clear.
Even the introduction of all-time record goalscorer Romelu Lukaku did little to inspire a side who, already 1-0 down at the time, seemed to have accepted their fate.
“There are many things going through my head at the moment that I had better not say to the outside world,” Jan Vertonghen said.
“It is very frustrating. In the first game we were not good but we were lucky. Today we created no chances from what I could see.”
The former Tottenham defender is not wrong. Other than Dries Mertens strike in the second half, and an early effort from footballing journeyman Michi Batshuayi, Belgium did not so much as threaten the Moroccan goal.
And the north Africans were missing their first-choice goalkeeper, Bono, too, in the most incongruous of circumstances.
Having lined up to sing the national anthem, hand on heart, Bono was then replaced by understudy Munir Mohamedi in the starting XI before the team photo had even taken place. It later turned out to be a problem with the stopper’s vision.
Nonetheless, even with their goalkeeper moving in mysterious ways, Morocco were prepared to hunt for victory with or without him, rampaging into some early tackles to leave Belgium feeling like they had a bout of vertigo.
It did not matter who was in goal in the end. With the stadium almost entirely filled of boisterous Moroccans cladded head to toe in national red, Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech thought he had given the Africans the lead in first-half stoppage time, with Thibaut Courtois not covering himself in glory, but the Real Madrid No 1 was handed an almighty reprieve as it was ruled out for offside.
With Belgium struggling to string more than a handful of passes together in the second half, the goal that truly rocked the kasbah to its core was eerily similar to the disallowed effort, as former Huddersfield winger Abdelhamid Sabiri whipped a free-kick into the middle, former Wolves defender Romain Saiss deflected it goalwards. Courtois again should have kept it out in truth, but this time there was no offside flag to get him off the hook.
Not done there, another substitute, Zakaria Aboukhlal, put the seal one of the most famous wins in African footballing history, just to rub Belgian noses in their own muck a bit more.
“I am not happy with four points,” Morocco coach Walid Regragui said. “We want more than that.
“We have matched two of the best teams in the world and that is the way we need to continue.”
There are plenty of reasons for such optimism, with a second-ever last 16 qualification within Morocco’s grasps.
For Belgium, a knockout-stage spot is still very much up in the air, but it is the realisation that the end if nigh for this team that will be most difficult to stomach.
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