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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jonty Colman

West Ham duo qualify for World Cup knockout rounds despite unfortunate landmark own goal

West Ham United duo Nayef Aguerd and Nikola Vlasic have booked their places into the World Cup's round of 16 following the conclusion of Group F on Thursday afternoon.

The Hammers' Moroccan centre-back Aguerd helped his country reach the round of 16 and top Group F with a victory over Canada, although Aguerd caught the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech pounced on a defensive mistake to lob Milan Borjan from 30 yards out after just four minutes. Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri then latched onto a long pass from Paris Saint-Germain's Achraf Hakimi and finished to make it 2-0 less than 20 minutes later.

READ MORE: Ollie Scarles among five youngsters who could save West Ham millions in future transfer windows

The first of two frustrating moments for Aguerd came in the 40th minute where he grabbed the unfortunate honour of becoming the first player at the tournament to score an own goal, inadvertently steering past his own goalkeeper at the end of a wicked cross from Sam Adekugbe.

Minutes before the break, En-Nesyri thought he had got a brilliant second goal at the end of a cross. However, it was disallowed with Aguerd deemed to be interfering with play at the time of the goal.

Despite that, Aguerd and his side's win sealed top spot and means they will play one of Spain, Japan, Costa Rica, or Germany in the knockout rounds.

In Group F's other game, Croatia held Belgium to a goalless draw, which meant that Croatia sealed second spot in the group, knocking 2018 third place side Belgium out.

Hammers forward Vlasic, who is currently out on loan with Serie A side Torino, did not feature in the game, remaining an unused substitute.

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