Chances were at a premium in the opening exchanges, the best of which fell to Rony, who blazed his effort over the bar after being brilliantly picked out by Lucas Paqueta. Down the other end, Hakim Ziyech played a superb long ball to Noussair Mazraoui, and the Bayern Munich man took the ball down superbly before firing wide.
The game was starting to liven up and Bono saw his blushes spared by the VAR after Vinicius Junior capitalised on his potentially costly error and slotted the ball home into an empty net, a decision which buoyed the partisan crowd in Tangier.
The Atlas Lions faithful roared even louder when Morocco took the lead less than three minutes later thanks to Sofiane Boufal, who showed wonderful composure inside the box to fire past Weverton after some sublime link-up play with Bilal El Khannous. Ziyech and Azzedine Ounahi had further chances to extend the lead, as Walid Regragui's men headed into half-time with the bit between their teeth.
The North Africans showed their resoluteness early on in the second half, with Bono making an outstanding save to push away Rodrygo's fierce volley. But the Morocco shot-stopper was left to rue a horrible moment which led to a Brazil equaliser, as he let Casemiro’s relatively tame effort squirm through his grasp. But the fervent atmosphere inside the ground was ignited once again when Yahia Attiyat Allah’s cross caused havoc in the Brazil defence, as Abdelhamid Sabiri rifled in a finish off the underside of the bar.
It proved to be the decisive goal of the night, as Ramon Menezes suffered a sobering defeat as Brazil’s interim head coach. On the evidence of this display, their place at number one in the FIFA rankings seems very generous. Meanwhile, Regragui's side continue to break new ground after taking down another one of the globe’s heavyweights following their incredible run to the World Cup semi-finals.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Sofiane Boufal (Morocco)