‘Belgicazo’ from Morocco

His name is Abdelhamid Sabiri. He was born in Morocco, but when he was just 3 years old his family emigrated to Germany. At 25 and after rebounding for Bundesliga teams England and Italy, Sampdoria decided to trust him and give him a contract until 2025. He plays as a midfielder or inside left and this season he started with the starting shirt for the Genoa team until an injury, which seemed to leave him without a World Cup, has kept him on the wane in recent days. Regragui trusted him despite everything, and has given him residual minutes in the two games of this tournament. Against Belgium, Sabiri, who chose Morocco after playing up to the Under-21s in Germany, restored the coach’s confidence and to an entire country, with the goal that opened the third victory of the Atlas Lions in a World Cup. A triumph that places them close to passing the group stage for the first time in 36 years, since Mexico 1986. Almost nothing.

There are moments that change the life of a person, a team, a country. That moment could already have come for Morocco in the last play of the first half in Al Thumama: Ziyech, who by the way would later make it 2-0, touched a free kick with his left foot from almost the left corner of the Belgian area. The ball surprised Courtois and ended up entering the goal but Saiss, who had tried to head, was offside by inches. The VAR warned the Mexican César Ramos and he decided with good judgment that the Moroccan defender was misleading the Belgian goalkeeper. Thibaut had been lucky in that half sung but, unusual for him, he repeated it in the second half. And this time the video arbitration failed to remove the penance. Sabiri, from the other profile, also launched a center shot that after bouncing and also with Saiss again confused, slipped back into the goal (0-1, 74 ‘). Madness in Al Thumama, full of Moroccan fans and strangeness in the world of football: with De Bruyne and Eden Hazard missing, Courtois’s failure was what the Belgians lacked, who lose a duel in the group stage in a World Cup after having won 8 in a row. A generation begins to be lost.

Things had started crookedly for Morocco, capable of recovering all their hits in defense (Saiss, Achraf and even Mazraoui) but in the photo finish, when the anthems had even been sung, they lost the goalkeeper Yassine Bono from Seville due to a gastrointestinal problem. Something insecure in the aerial game, the ex of Málaga Munir Mohand destroyed the first great opportunity for the Belgians with his body, when Batshuayi kicked after a great pass from Thorgan Hazard.

The little one of the Hazards was one of Roberto Martínez’s touch-ups compared to the first day. The Spanish coach hadn’t liked what he saw, despite the win against Canada, and he wasn’t liking what was happening this time either. Eden repeated ownership and left samples of his quality in drops but he still has to come close to at least the crack version of him, which many no longer remember. The selector returned to take away the quarter of an hour of the second half, when the game, after a first half of rather Belgian dominance, had almost entered the field of chaotic in the hope of an eminently North African tier.

Boufal did tricks but without finding a shot on the right of Morocco, the recently released Mertens put Munir to the test again but it was Sabiri, shortly after coming on from the bench, the one who declared the state of insanity established. The Red Devils had to pull up by inertia. Roberto Martínez skipped the script pTo put Romelu Lukaku on the field, who was not expected until the last day due to inconvenience. The Inter giant, out of shape, had had enough of trying to lower a ball inside the area. Unsuccessfully. The marker would only move again in favor of Morocco, already in the discount. Ziyech fought and defined Aboukhlal (2-0, 94 ‘) to culminate another great feat in this World Cup of surprises.