Morocco claim historic win over Brazil

The Moroccan national football team continues to bring joy to the whole country. After an amazing World Cup in Qatar in which they reached the semi-finals, where they were only beaten by the still champions France, a milestone that no African or Arab team had ever achieved, the Moroccan team faced the five-time world champions Brazil in a friendly match in Tangiers and managed to win 2-1. 

Morocco came out with a starting eleven very similar to the core team that played at the World Cup in Qatar, with key players like Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Hakim Ziyech, Nordin Amrabat, Azzedine Ounahi, Sofiane Boufal and Youssen En-Nesyri up front. Up front was a dangerous Brazil side with players like Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Casemiro and Militao. And the match was hard fought and with a lot of pace. 

Brazil wanted to take control of the game from the outset, but they struggled to create dangerous chances against a very tidy Morocco side who did a good job defensively from the start. The Moroccan team coached by Walid Regragui is always characterised by good defensive work and by being a compact unit. 

The Atlas Lions withstood the Brazilian onslaught, and even after the early stages of the match they tried to have more of an attacking presence. The first important approach came with a dangerous shot from Noussair Mazraoui in the 23rd minute that went just wide of the post. 

A minute later, Yassine Bounou made an important mistake that almost cost him a goal after coming out of position, although the goalkeeper was able to make amends for the mistake by reacting in time. 

The game was now looking livelier and more lively and an important chance came soon after through Vinicius Jr, who managed to score after another indecision by goalkeeper Bounou, but the goal was ruled out for offside. The position was a tight one but the video referee ruled that the Real Madrid striker was in an offside position. 

Despite the scare for the home crowd, Morocco pulled themselves together and took the lead on the half-hour mark thanks to a Sofiane Boufal goal. The home side took advantage of Emerson's poor outlet which led to Morocco's superiority in attack and Boufal, with a good turn and manoeuvre in the box, scored Morocco's first goal with a low drive that caught Weverton low down. 

The match was becoming increasingly tense and the players began to clash with each other. The confrontation that started when the centre-back Eder Militao went to look for a ball in an incident in the match ended in a small fight between several players.

In the 37th minute came another good chance for Morocco, who took advantage of the moments of tension and Brazilian inaccuracy to reach their opponents' goal. In this case, Hakim Ziyech almost scored the home side's second goal with his left foot, but the Moroccan striker's shot did not have the desired effect and a good chance for Walid Regragui's team went begging. Azzedine Ounahi then tried his luck with a long-range effort that was just off target after skimming Militao and almost caught out goalkeeper Weverton for the home side's second goal. 

At this stage of the game, the match was very lively and tense, with both teams working hard and even with a good level of play and a high level of tension. As half-time approached, Brazil increasingly lacked ideas against a Moroccan team well positioned on the pitch and with an impeccable defensive performance as they had shown during the World Cup in Qatar, where they conceded only five goals in the seven matches played. A fact to bear in mind, especially considering that in the match for third and fourth place they conceded two goals in the defeat to Croatia, plus another two goals conceded against France in the last round they reached, in the semi-finals. Apart from those last two games of the tournament, they had only conceded one goal in the group stage, round of 16 and quarter-finals. 

The match was tense and there was a second serious clash between players just before half-time due to a heavy tackle by Nordin Amrabat on Real Madrid's Vinicius. 

And so it was half-time, after an evenly matched first half, even with slightly more possession for the home side.
At the start of the second half Brazil came out determined to level the score. Rodrygo had an important chance that could have ended in a beautiful goal, but Bounou was able to save with a masterful intervention the shot of the Brazilian international player of Real Madrid. 

Brazil were stepping up their dominance and pressure on the Moroccan team, who were still stuck in their own half. Rony had a couple of good chances in the 55th and 57th minutes, but could not finish well in the box. 

Morocco were suffering. But if the North African team showed at the last World Cup in Qatar is that it is not easy to destroy a team so solid defensively, and knew how to suffer these minutes of Brazilian harassment. They also had the clear ideas even to look for good counter-attacks against an attack-minded Brazil.

Brazil coach Ramon Menezes moved the bench and introduced fresh attacking players such as Antony, Vitor Roque and Veiga. The Carioca pressure grew and in the 67th minute they equalised thanks to a goal from Casemiro. The Manchester United player and former Real Madrid player took advantage of another important mistake by Bounou and with a shot that did not represent any danger at first glance managed to beat the Moroccan goalkeeper, who saw the ball pass under his arms tamely when he had everything in his favour to stop the shot on target. 

With Morocco's chances looking worse, Walid Regragui's team pushed forward from the bench and went in search of the goal with determination. The North Africans were rewarded with a second goal thanks to Abdelhamid Sabiri, who took advantage of a loose ball in the box in the 78th minute to volley past Weverton and put the Atlas Lions ahead again. 

The match turned into a real party for the home fans who chanted their team's every move as they beat the all-powerful Brazil in an already historic match for the Moroccan national football team. 

Morocco thus became the first Arab team in history to beat Brazil after 27 matches, a true sporting milestone.

Morocco's next match will see them take on Peru in their second friendly match on the FIFA international fixture list these days. The match will be played on Tuesday 28 March at the Cívitas Metropolitano stadium in Madrid.