It was a day full of big surprises in the World Cup, Qatar 2022, when Belgium surrendered completely to Morocco, and Japan suffered a shocking defeat against Costa Rica.
This is Morocco’s first victory in the World Cup since 1998, and the third in its history. Football fans in Arab countries celebrated Morocco’s strong victory.
The performance of the Moroccan national team was strong, and the result of the match was a shocking surprise to Belgium.
Morocco national team honors the Arabs pic.twitter.com/lVvqSUkajs
– Khaled Al-Hofli (@ ppkkkk123456789) November 28, 2022
And the “Atlas Lions” managed to achieve an exciting victory with two goals to none for Belgium, the second-ranked team in the world on the FIFA lists.
#Belgium 0-2 #Morocco: Morocco #fans in #Doha #qatar2022 The joy of the Arab masses, especially the Moroccan, with the victory of the Moroccan national teamhttps://t.co/SA8zWDnpvC
— eMagic Agency (@agjenciaemagic) November 28, 2022
Morocco succeeded in reaching second place in its group, tied with Croatia on points and two goals less than it on total goals.
The match did not guarantee qualification for Morocco so far, but its chances have improved significantly, at a time when Belgium ranks third with three points after a victory over Canada, and Canada comes in last place without any points after two losses with Belgium and Croatia.
And Abdel Hamid Sabry scored for Morocco from a well-executed free kick in the second half, which passed into the goal of Thibaut Courtois, who is considered among the best goalkeepers in the world, before Zakaria Boukhalal decided the victory for his team in the ninetieth minute of the match.
Morocco will play a match against Canada, which was practically eliminated from the qualifiers after two losses, she says CNN.
Costa Rica is holding its breath
Earlier in the day, Costa Rica stunned Japan with a 1-0 victory, thanks to an 81st-minute goal from Kesher Fuller, as they kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup knockout stages with three crucial points to draw with Spain and Japan in Group E.
Japan, who recently stunned Germany, were unable to find a foothold in this match even though Costa Rica was still licking its wounds from the bruising 7-0 defeat to Spain.
Costa Rica took advantage of a mistake on the edge of the penalty area and Fuller hit the ball into the top corner of the net, bypassing the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda, scoring his team’s first shot on goal and the first goal in the tournament.
Despite the loss, Japan is still second in the group after Spain, which tied with Germany with a goal for each of them. Spain leads with four points, followed by Japan with three and Costa Rica with three as well, compared to one point for the German team, which performed disappointingly in this tournament.
Croatia wins over Canada by a landslide
Croatia recorded its first victory in the tournament being held in Qatar, after defeating Canada 4-1.
Alphonso Davies scored Canada’s first World Cup goal in history in 68 seconds – the fastest goal of the tournament so far – to give Canada the lead, but Croatia responded with goals from Andrej Kramaric and Marco Levaga before halftime.
Kramaric scored his second goal of the match in the 70th minute and Lovro Mader added a fourth in stoppage time to secure victory for Croatia as Canada exited the World Cup with two defeats in two matches.
Riots
On the impact of the Mondiale surprises, Dutch riot police dispersed with batons in three cities fans of the Moroccan national team after its victory, Sunday, over its Belgian counterpart in the World Cup finals in Qatar.
About 500 people gathered in Rotterdam near the city centre, as well as in The Hague, Amsterdam and Utrecht, police said.
Rotterdam police said, “Demonstrators threw fireworks and glass at riot police, who responded with batons.”
Videos showed police officers equipped with batons and shields in the city centre.
Riot police also dispersed fans in Amsterdam and The Hague.
Violence erupted in Brussels, on Sunday, as “dozens” of people attacked public property and security personnel, following Morocco’s victory over Belgium in the FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar, according to AFP, quoting the police.
And the police said in a statement that even before the end of the match, “dozens of people, some of them wearing headscarves, sought to confront the police” in the city center, “which disturbed public security.”
She added that explosives were used and projectiles were thrown, while some armed themselves with sticks, and others set fire to the public road and sabotaged a traffic signal.