Morocco has done great to qualify to the World Cup from a difficult qualifying group from the region of Africa. Impressively, the North Africans have manage to qualify without conceding a single goal, while scoring 11 times.
Morocco will have their work cut out for them, having been drawn into a very tough group. Playing Spain and Portugal will prove to be quite a test, but the Africans look ready to give their more famous opponents a real challenge.
– Star players: Medhi Benatia, Younes Belhanda
– FootballCoin stars:
Medhi Benatia 5,505.60 seasonal points (Pro), 2,038.00 points (Easy)
Younes Belhanda 2,695.60 seasonal points (Easy)
– Coach: Herve Renard
– Group: B
– Group fixtures:
Fri June 15: Morocco – Iran, St Petersburg, 4pm
Wed June 20: Portugal – Morocco, Moscow (Luzhniki), 1pm
Mon June 25: Spain – Morocco, Kaliningrad, 7pm
Prediction: Morocco has performed very well against their African opponents in the qualifying stages. They have a talented and dedicated group of players at their disposal. Still, qualifying from their group would be a significant upset.
If Morocco is to stand a chance to qualify from their group, they will need to ensure their win their debut game against Iran. Much tougher games against Spain and Portugal will follow.
Final say: The team is expected to leave the tournament after the group stage, but an upset could be on the cards judging by the players’ potential.
– Squad:
Goalkeepers: Mounir El Kajoui (Numancia, Spain), Yassine Bounou (Girona, Spain), Ahmad Reda Tagnaouti (Ittihad Tanger);
Defenders: Mehdi Benatia (Juventus, Italy), Romain Saiss (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England), Manuel Da Costa (Basaksehir, Turkey), Nabil Dirar (Fenerbahce, Turkey), Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid, Spain), Hamza Mendyl (Lille, France);
Midfielders: M’bark Boussoufa (Al Jazira, UAE), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Youssef Ait Bennasser (Caen, France), Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Younes Belhanda (Galatasaray, Turkey), Faycal Fajr (Getafe, Spain), Amine Harit (Schalke, Germany);
Forwards: Khalid Boutaib (Malatyaspor, Turkey), Aziz Bouhaddouz (St. Pauli, Germany), Ayoub El Kaabi (Renaissance Berkane), Nordin Amrabat (Leganes, Spain), Mehdi Carcela (Standard de Liege, Belgium), Hakim Ziyech (Ajax, Netherlands)
– World Cup history: 1970, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2018
