On the second day of Group Stage play at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Belgium will face Morocco at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha. The Red Devils' first-round encounter against Canada on Wednesday ended in a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal by Michy Batshuayi. Meanwhile, Morocco's first group encounter against Croatia ended in a scoreless draw, and now the team are planning an upset this weekend.
This is their fourth meeting together. It's no surprise that the Belgian men's national team has swept their first two matches, while Morocco's record is 1-1. There has not been a single game ending in a draw thus far.
When these two teams played in an international friendly on March 26, 2008, the Atlas Lions astonished the world by winning 4-1. In the group stages of the 2022 World Cup, they will finally meet again, and it promises to be an even more interesting duel than the one they had four years ago. However, it will be without Romelu Lukaku.
Why isn't Romelu Lukaku playing for Belgium against Morocco in Qatar 2022?
Lukakuhas only played five times this season since returning to Inter on loan from Chelsea due to a slew of injuries. His most recent injury has kept him out of action since late October; he missed Belgium's 1-0 opening victory against Canada, and he just recently returned to squad training on Friday.
This sidelined him until late October, and despite scoring upon his comeback against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League and making an appearance against Sampdoria, the striker had a recurrence, casting doubt on his ability to participate in the World Cup. Now, apparently, the prolific striker has made progress in his recovery from injury and thus, has been included in Belgium's World Cup roster to play Morocco on Tuesday.
However, despite being ahead of schedule in his recovery from a thigh injury, Belgium is still without striker Romelu Lukaku for their second World Cup group encounter against Morocco. Belgium coach Roberto Martinez opted to start Michy Batshuayi once again.
