IT WAS a rather bad start by North African giants Egypt and Morocco at the 2018 World Cup.
African top dogs Egypt were defeated by Uruguay 1-0 after they held their own for most parts of the game.
Morocco, who are playing their first World Cup in 20 years, were dealt a sucker punch when they conceded an own goal in referee’s injury time.
It was in the 89th when Jose Gimenez broke the Egyptian resistance to put Uruguay in the lead with a bullet header that almost tore the net.
Egypt are now on the backfoot in Group A, where they’re languishing in position three. They will face hosts Russia, who are on a high after they demolished Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening match of the tournament.
Russia will be buoyed by millions of their home supporters, who will cheer their team until the furthest they can go.
Russia and Uruguay have three points apiece and they will look to qualify comfortably for the Last 16 in their coming fixtures.
Morocco too will now have a big mountain to climb if they are keen to proceed to the next round.
They’re in Group B and are the only team in that pool that don’t have a point.
This is after other Group B sides Portugal and Spain played to a
3-3 humdinger in
what may go down as the best match of the tournament. By virtue of defeating Morocco, Iran have secured themselves a top spot in the group and it will be very interesting to see how this group will pan out.
Morocco’s heartbreak started when Noureddine Amrabat gave away a free kick deep in injury and defender Aziz Bouhaddouz headed a beauty into his own net.
Morocco’s next match is against Portugal on Wednesday, where they will have to deal with the genius of red-hot Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a hat-trick against Spain.
