Belgium vs Morocco: Thibaut Courtois Leaves Youssef En Nesyri for Dead With Sublime Skill

• Thibaut Courtois exhibited a cool head under pressure when he left Morocco striker, Youssef En Nesyri stranded
• Courtois received a back pass but opted against a safer clearance up the field with En-Nesyri breathing down his neck
• The piece of skill proved worthless as Belgium fell to a shock 2-0 defeat to the African giants

Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois displayed cool composure as his sublime skill left Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri gasping for air.

Belgium and Morocco squared up at the Al Thumma Stadium in the second round of fixtures of Group F.

The Red Devils began on the front foot, but a resilient Morocco side held on days after frustrating Croatia in their opening match.

In one incident, the ball was played back to Courtois and instead of the Real Madrid goalkeeper booting the ball upfield, he turned En-Nesyri inside out as the Sevilla striker glided past him.

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Courtois, however, conceded three cheap goals as Belgium's World Cup hopes suffered a huge dent. He conceded twice from direct freekicks though one from Hakim Ziyech was ruled out for offside at the tail end of the first half.

How the game unravelled

Sports Brief has also reported that Morocco jeopardised Belgium's World Cup hopes as Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal's late goals secured a surprise 2-0 triumph in Doha on Sunday.

Belgium, third in Russia four years ago, could have qualified for the last 16 with victory but instead produced another insipid display after their fortunate opening win over Canada. Substitute Sabiri was the hero thanks to a 73rd-minute free-kick which Thibaut Courtois allowed to bounce in at his near post, before Aboukhlal grabbed a second in stoppage time.

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The tens of thousands of Morocco supporters responded by cheering their team home at a raucous Al Thumama Stadium.

Morocco replace Belgium at the top of Goup F and know they will qualify for the knockout phase for the first time since 1986 if they can avoid defeat against Canada on Thursday. Belgium, the world's second-ranked side, will have to beat 2018 runners-up Croatia to be sure of going through.

Yassine Bounou's disappearing act

Sports Brief has also reported that a crazy occurrence took place seconds before Belgium vs Morocco match at the Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar.

Morocco's first-choice goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was named in Walid Regragui''s starting XI and even lined up for the national anthems.

But as soon as the game began, it was discovered that Bounou had not taken up his place in the Moroccan goal but Al Wehda's goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi.