Substitute Aziz Bouhaddouz’s 95th-minute own goal provided heartbreak for Morocco and joy for Iran as they began Group B at World Cup 2018 with a fortuitous – and valuable – 1-0 win.
Caution had ruled the day at Saint Petersburg Stadium previously. But a free-kick deep into added time was ruinously headed home by the St. Pauli centre forward to hand Team Melli just their second-ever victory in the tournament.
Here are the Morocco player ratings:
MOROCCO (4-2-3-1)
Munir Mohamedi – 7: Stood up well to deny Sardar Azmoun’s one-on-one and Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s rebound at the end of a dour first half.
Nordin Amrabat – 6: Bombed on from right-back, but couldn’t deliver a quality cross. Taken off with concussion for his younger brother, Sofyan.
Mehdi Benatia – 5: Regularly charged out of defence to try and spark counter-attacking opportunities. This, however, all too often caused danger.
Romain Saiss – 6: Precious little to do as Iran went for a cagey approach.
Achraf Hakimi – 5: The Real Madrid right-back continued at left-back for his country. Only produced one cross.
Karim El Ahmadi – 6: Killed one promising counter-attack for Iran with a wily foul. Otherwise, tried to recycle possession.
Mbark Boussoufa – 6: Had evidently been told to pump balls into the channels. Has shown he can be much more than this at Al Jazira – and beyond.
Hakim Ziyech – 6: Forced one great save from Iran shot stopper Alireza Beiranvand. Yet, he flitted between deep positions out wide where he couldn’t truly hurt Iran. What a waste of an assist machine.
Younes Belhanda – 5: Another victim of Renard’s tactics. Much more was expected of the 28-year-old Galatasaray creator.
Amine Harit – 6: Ballooned an excellent early chance in the second half. Tried to inject pace with his dribbling.
Ayoub El Kaabi – 4: The only outfield player in Morocco’s squad employed in the local Botola league appeared far too raw for this rarefied level and was hooked.
SUBS
Sofyan Amrabat – N/A: The Feyenoord man slotted in for his stunned sibling at right-back.
Aziz Bouhaddouz – N/A: A substitution of huge consequence. Stretched too far to repel a free-kick and could only flick it into his own net.
Manuel da Costa – N/A: İstanbul Basaksehir defender was brought on near the end to allow Ziyech to push up. Plan didn’t work out.
