Belgium Loss For Castagne & Tielemans
- Timothy Castagne and Youri Tielemans feature in Belgium defeat
- The Red Devils lost 2-0 to Morocco at Al Thumama Stadium
- Wout Faes was an unused substitute in the fixture
- Belgium face Croatia in final group stage match on Thursday (3pm kick-off)
There were three changes to the Belgian side that beat Canada on Wednesday evening. Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans dropped to the bench, alongside Wout Faes, while Timothy Castagne remained in the starting XI, lining up on the left-hand side of the defence.
They faced a Moroccan side who were yet to concede a goal in the tournament, following a goalless draw with Croatia in the first round of fixtures.
However, the African team would be forced into an early change, before kick-off, when first choice goalkeeper Yassine Bounou had to be replaced by Munir, citing illness after the singing of the national anthems.
In what was a slow-paced first half, Belgium created few openings for themselves, and almost went into the interval a goal down, when Hakim Ziyech found the net direct from a free-kick.
Curling in a left-footed effort from a set-piece on the edge of the Belgian box, no one appeared to get a touch, as the ball deflected of Thibaut Courtois into the goal. Luckily for the European side, Romain Saïss was deemed to be in an offside position, ruling out the goal just before the break.
On the hour mark, a second Fox would be introduced into the game when Tielemans replaced the booked Amadou Onana in the centre of the park.
In the 73rd minute, though, Abdelhamid Sabiri whipped in a free-kick near the Belgium corner flag, which flew past Real Madrid's 'keeper at his near post, and this time there was no VAR check to dampen Morocco's celebrations.
Understanding the importance of the game, Roberto Martínez welcomed Romelu Lukaku to the game in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the points, but the opposite backline wasn't to be beaten, and Morocco would even score a second, handing the Red Devils their first defeat of the tournament.
In injury time, an impressive piece of skill from Ziyech would set up Zakaria Aboukhal to fire into the roof of the net, sending the stadium into immense celebrations, as Morocco picked up only their third-ever World Cup win, against the second-placed country in the rankings.
Despite the loss, the Belgians remain in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stages, with three points from their first two games. They are currently second in the group, one point behind today's opponents.
The Leicester trio have one more opportunity to represent their country in the group stage of the competition, when Belgium face Croatia on Thursday (3pm kick-off) in an all-important game which may well decide whose World Cup journey will continue.
All times GMT.