West Ham United centre-back Nayef Aguerd continued his run of form with a clean sheet for Morocco in their World Cup clash with Belgium.
The former Stade Rennais centre-back, who joined the Hammers for £30million in the summer from the Ligue 1 outfit, was making his second appearance for his country at the 2022 World Cup, partnering former Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Romain Saiss in both games.
Having held 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia to a goalless draw in their opening clash on Wednesday, they went one further against Belgium, who finished third at the tournament in Russia, beating them 2-0.
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After Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech’s first half free-kick goal was ruled out for offside, Morocco got their goal in the second half when former Huddersfield Town winger Abdelhamid Sabiri caught out Real Madrid’s former Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois with a wide free-kick. Zakaria Aboukhlal added a late second in stoppage time.
In what was only Aguerd’s fifth competitive start of the season for club and country, having spent most of the campaign out with an ankle problem, he helped keep a Belgian attack that included Michy Batshuayi, Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne all quiet.
In the game, Aguerd created one chance, completed one tackle, made one clearance, blocked one shot and he was not dispossessed once during the match. He also completed 40 of his 45 passes at an accuracy rate of 88.9%. Including that, he completed six of his eight attempted long passes.
A win for Morocco over Belgium moved them above their opponents and to the top of Group F by one point. However, they could drop to second depending on the result between Croatia and Canada in Sunday’s other group game.
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