Morocco impress in come-from-behind World Cup friendly win over Slovakia

Morocco's Younes Belhanda scores their winning goal against Slovakia. (Reuters)
  • It's now 16 matches unbeaten for Herve Renard's side
  • Ayoud Al-Kaabi and Younes Belhanda were on target in Geneva

GENEVA: Morocco impressed again in its World Cup preparation, beating Slovakia 2-1 in a warmup game on Monday.
After trailing to Slovakia's only shot on target, Morocco got goals midway through the second half from Ayoud Al-Kaabi and Younes Belhanda.
Al-Kaabi stooped in the goalmouth to guide a 63rd-minute header into the net after a corner was deflected to the far post. The corner was earned from goalkeeper Michael Sulla's excellent save to push away a header by little midfielder Mbark Boussoufa.
The winning goal in the 74th minute was a low bouncing shot struck by Younes Belhanda from the edge of the penalty area.
Slovakia led in the 57th when midfielder Jan Gregus scored with a low shot.
Morocco, who have been training at Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps, have one more warmup game, against Estonia in Talinn on Saturday. They are unbeaten in their last 16 matches and last tasted defeat against Cameron last year.
Coach Herve Renard's team opens its World Cup Group B campaign against Iran on June 15, then plays Portugal and Spain.

Morocco’s World Cup squad:
Goalkeepers: Mounir El-Kajoui (Numancia/ESP), Yassine Bounou (Girona/ESP), Ahmad Reda Tagnaouti (Ittihad Tanger)
Defenders: Medhi Benatia (Juventus/ITA), Romain Saiss (Wolves/ENG), Manuel Da Costa (Istanbul Basaksehir/TUR), Nabil Dirar (Fenerbahce/TUR), Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid/ESP), Hamza Mendyl (Lille/FRA)
Midfielders: M’barek Boussoufa (Al Jazira/UAE), Karim El-Ahmadi (Feyenoord/NED), Youssef Ait Bennasser (Caen/FRA), Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord/NED), Younes Belhanda (Galatasaray/TUR), Faycal Fajr (Getafe/ESP), Amine Harit (Schalke/GER)
Forwards: Khalid Boutaib (Yeni Malatyaspor/TUR), Aziz Bouhaddouz (St. Pauli/GER), Ayoub El-Kaabi (RS Berkane), Mehdi Carcela (Standard Liege/BEL), Hakim Ziyech (Ajax/NED), Nordin Amrabat (Leganes/ESP), Youssef En-Nesyri (Malaga, ESP).