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Sheikh Mohammed, Sheikh Hamdan celebrate Morocco's win as the Atlas Lions upset Belgium at the Fifa World Cup
It was the North African country's first win at a World Cup since they beat Scotland in 1998
Morocco's Abdelhamid Sabiri celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates. Photo: Reuters
Morocco pulled off a surprise 2-0 win over Belgium at the World Cup on Sunday to edge closer to a place in the last 16.
Second-half goals from Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal sent the North Africans top of Group F on four points, one ahead of Belgium.
The Dubai Ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, along with the Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan celebrated the historic win. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, called their victory "Arab joy" and "pride of all Arabs".
Dubai's Crown Prince hailed their performance as 'heroic'. Taking to Twitter as soon as the final whistle went off, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, calling them by their moniker 'Atlas Lions', wrote: "You made all Arabs happy with this result. Your victory is deserved and your performance is heroic."
After Saudi Arabia and Japan, Morocco produced a major upset in the Qatar World Cup with an unforgettable victory at the Al Thumama Stadium.
It was the North African country's first win at a World Cup since they beat Scotland in 1998. They left the 2018 tournament with a single point.
In a lively start, Morocco looked happy to sit and wait amid the deafening whistles of their fans, although bouts of intense pressing led to a couple of dangerous counter-attacks with Hakim Ziyech the main threat.
As Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne struggled to find his range and Eden Hazard remained largely ineffective, Morocco looked safe.
Courtois was beaten for the first time in the tournament when Ziyech fired a free kick into the pack and it bounced past the keeper at the near post on the stroke of halftime.
Morocco at the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha. Photo: AFP
Romain Saiss, however, was marginally offside and referee Carlos Ramos ruled the goal out after a VAR review as the Besiktas defender was obstructing Courtois' view.
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Morocco started to fancy their chances and were more on the attack with Sofiane Boufal's shot from just inside the box going just wide after the break.
Belgium were out of sorts and Martinez sent Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens on to replace Amadou Onana and Eden Hazard.
Mertens had an immediate impact, forcing El Kajoui, who stood in minutes before kickoff for Yassine Bounou, into a superb save with a fierce shot.
Morocco substitute Sabiri broke the deadlock in the 73rd with an angled free kick similar to the one that led to the ruled-out goal in the first half, as Courtois could only fumble the ball into the net.
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