Hakim Ziyech was named the Player of the Match for his dynamic and decisive performance in Morocco’s famous 2-0 win against Belgium yesterday, but he preferred to shine the spotlight on his team-mates’ efforts and the support of the crowd when dissecting the result.
Ziyech was a constant thorn in the Belgian backline. His four successful dribbles were twice as many as anyone else managed, he registered two key passes including the assist for Morocco’s second, and only his team-mate Achraf Hakimi won more tackles than Ziyech’s three.
Having also had a goal ruled out for a very tight offside, there was no question of the 29-year-old’s impact on proceedings, leading to his selection as the game’s best player.
‘I don’t really deserve it to be honest,’ said Ziyech humbly after collecting the prize.
‘It’s something we did together. They gave me the award but it’s for everybody, and everybody who was behind us. It’s hard to pick one because we did it all together.
‘We played a really strong game out of defence, and let them play the game they wanted to play, and then waited for their mistakes.
‘We took really good advantage of that and scored at the right moment. We had some difficult moments in the game but it was a deserved win.’
Morocco were roared on by thousands of vociferous supporters in the Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar, and Ziyech also reserved words of praise for the Atlas Lions fans who helped get their team over the line and leave them in such a strong position to qualify from Group F.
‘Some of us were tired after 60, 70 minutes until we scored that goal, and if you see how they went behind us they gave us a lot more power than we thought we had,’ noted Ziyech. ‘They gave us a big boost.’