World Cup: Mystery of 'disappearing' Morocco goalkeeper solved

Confusion surrounded the Morocco team before their World Cup shock win over Belgium on Sunday when the their starting goalkeeper appeared to mysteriously disappear shortly before kick-off.

Yassine Bounou was named on the teamsheet and had lined up alongside his team-mates for the national anthems just before the start of the match.

He then briefly spoke to coach Walid Regragui, who then embraced him and turned to his reserve goalkeeper.

Munir El Kajoui then entered the fray in time for the pre-match team photo before keeping a clean sheet in the surprise 2-0 win over the much-fancied Belgians.

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Regragui revealed afterwards that his starting goalkeeper “didn’t feel right” and asked to be replaced.

He told beIN Sports: "He took a whack against Croatia, he was unsteady.

"We tried until the last moment but after the warm-up, just before the match, he did not feel good and he had the honesty to give way to someone else.

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"If you want to be in my squad you have to be 100 per cent and Yassine understood that and gave up his place to Munir, who had a great game."

The late change caught the BBC commentary team off guard for a majority of the first-half.

BBC commentator Guy Mowbray was forced to issue an on-air apology before half-time.

“One thing I should have noticed earlier on, I apologise for, is a change in goal for Morocco at the start,” said Mowbray.

“Remember at the start when we saw the goalkeeper running on? Having seen his number, it's number 12, El Kajoui, in goal. Munir El Kajoui.”

Bounou, 31, plays for Spanish outfit Sevilla and played in Morocco's opening 0-0 draw with Croatia. He was reported to have an eyesight issue ahead of the Belgium game.

Goals from Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal were enough to hand Morocco a key victory as the World Cup shocks continued at the weekend.