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Watch: Morocco gifted early goal from Canada goalie
Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan after a World Cup match Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Morocco gifted early goal at World Cup after Canada goalie makes brutal mistake

Morocco will advance to the knockout stage at the 2022 World Cup with a win or draw against Canada on Thursday and they got off to a great start thanks to a brutal mistake by the opponent's keeper.

While Canadian goalie Milan Borjan was clearly at least partially at fault for the easy early strike for Morocco's Hakim Ziyech, it looks one of his teammates should be sharing the blame as well. Upon further review, defender Steven Vitoria played a questionable ball to his keeper, which certainly didn't help the cause.

Depending on how the rest of the round plays out in Group F, Morocco (1-1-0) could capture first place in the foursome with a victory over Canada. Borjan and company dropped their first two matches in group play and can't advance to the round of 16.

The Moroccans went ahead 2-0 on a goal from Youssef En-Nesryi in the 23rd minute, before Canada cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 40th minute. For the lone Canadian goal of the half, Sam Adekugbe took a shot from the left side, just outside of the goalie's box, which was deflected by Morocco's Nayef Aguerd into the back of the net for an own goal.

Morocco nearly went into intermission with a two-goal lead, but a would-be score by En-Nesryi was waved off due to an offsides call. En-Nesryi went into full celebration mode before realizing the score didn't count.

Morocco's only appearance in the round of 16 was in 1986, when they finished in 11th place.

Victor Barbosa

Victor Barbosa is a passionate follower of MLB, the NBA and NFL, with a deep interest in Boston-area teams. He graduated from Springfield College -- The Birthplace of Basketball --  in 2013 with a degree in Communications-Sports Journalism. Previous bylines include FanSided, Heavy and Syracuse

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