Morocco beat Canada 2-1 to win Group F ahead of Croatia, while the world’s number two-ranked team, Belgium were eliminated from the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
In their debut tournament, 1986 years ago, Morocco advanced to the last-16 and it’s taken 36 years to replicate that feat. But there are real optimism and reasons to believe they could go further this time around.
Hakim Ziyech and Yousef En-Neysri put them into a two-goal lead before Nayef Aguerd scored an own goal on the brink of halftime to set up a nervy second half.
However, the Atlas Lions, led by the reigning CAF Manager of the Year, Walid Regragui, held on to secure a historic win and qualify ahead of two of the tournament favorites, Belgium and Croatia.
It also marked the first time an African country won their Group since 1998, when Nigeria Paraguay and Spain, something the Super Eagles achieved in the 1994 edition too.
The 2018 runners-up and the Red Devils canceled each other out in the other game with a goalless draw at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
It marked a rather underwhelming end to the golden generation of the Belgians, who are likely to now undergo wholesale changes from management to a new crop of emerging talent as they now look to build towards a new generation.
