Morocco left Belgium for dead, recording a 2-0 victory to get their first win in a World Cup game since June 1998.
The victory at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha means that Morocco have the chance to top their Group for the second time since being the first African team to achieve the feat back in 1986.
Belgium won, but struggled against Canada in their first game, and looked to make amends when they totally dominated the first half of the encounter, boasting 67 percent of the ball.
Morocco defended for most parts of the first half, but when they had the chance to counter, they looked dangerous.
It was signs of things to come, when Morocco thought they took the lead in stoppage time from a dead ball situation, but Hakim Ziyech’s strike was ruled out because Romain Saiss was judged to be offside after he attempted to connect with the cross.
Encouraged by the momentum of the final moments in the first half, Morocco came out of their shell and having had no shot on target previously, the Atlas Lions attempted 7 shots and had 4 on target in the second half.
Walid Regragui became the second Moroccan manager to get a win since 1998 and did so in style as two of his substitutes got the goals.
The first goal was from another set piece situation as Sampdoria’s Abdelhamid Sabiri sneaked in an unstoppable effort past Thibaut Courtois to give Morocco the lead in the 73rd Minute.
Belgium reacted by sending men forward and even brought on Romelu Lukaku with 10 minutes to go, Ina an attempt to try get at least a draw, but it wasn’t to be as the African side threatened even more, on the counter.
One of those counters resulted in the second goal as Hakim Ziyech, who had been a menace all through the game, got into the space, took Jan Vertonghen for a ride before releasing a perfect ball on to the path of substitute Zakaria Aboukhlal who took it first time, beating Courtois to his near post and seal all three points for Morocco.
Morocco now need at least a draw against Canada to make it to the round of 16 and a win to top the group.
This is also the second time an African team have pick maximum points in this tournament, after Senegal saw off Qatar 3-1 to send the hosts packing.
