Belgium’s Head Coach Makes a Stunning Observation About Morocco’s Shock Loss
AFP / JOHN THYS
KEY POINTS
- After losing to Morocco, Belgium’s chances to advance to the Round 16 are now slimmer
- Roberto Martinez, Belgium’s coach, said that Belgium “played with fear of losing.”
- Croatia and Morocco will soon be able to progress from Group F into the knockout stage.
The 2022 World Cup has been full of shocking surprises, and Belgium was just one of many to fall prey to what many social media users call the “shocks of the underdogs.”
Belgium was one of the favourites to be expelled from Group F. They and Croatia were considered to be the best candidates to progress to Round of 16, as Canada and Morocco are their only competitors.
They won a 2-0 win against Belgium in the second match of their group stage.
Roberto Martinez, the head coach of the Belgian national team, was not pleased with the result and expressed his dismay during the postgame press conference.
“That’s a mindset. I don’t believe it is a lack in quality. “We played better on the ball against Canada, and we got into some really good positions. But then, the next pass was missing, that link up was missing in the last third,” Martinez complained, as reported by BBC.
“We couldn’t find that spare man, and I believe that was because we played with fear of losing.”
Martinez continued to fire shots at his team, expressing frustration at their performance. He noted that they had always strived to create their own opportunities and have scored goals in “almost fifty consecutive games.”
The goal was scored by Belgium’s talented frontline, Kevin De Bruyne and Michy Batshuayi. Fans waited throughout the entire match to see the result.
Morocco scored first, as Romain Saiss, team captain, deflected the ball off Abdelhamid Sabiri’s free kick past Thibaut Courtois at the 73rdminute to give them the lead.
Belgium was aware of the danger and put pressure on Morocco to salvage a draw. However, the momentum had already shifted in favor Morocco.
Hakim Ziyech found Zakaria Abuoukhlal trailing and shot the match-winner in penalty area just two minutes into stoppage.
Many outside observers shared Martinez’s dismay with his team. His side had won possession (56% to Morocco’s 32%), and they seemed close to scoring a goal, but it didn’t happen.
Croatia and Morocco will advance to the knockout rounds of the 2022 World Cup. They have already won two games. Belgium’s chances at the next round look slim, as they face Croatian captain Luka Modric.
