Resident giant killers Morocco will endeavour to pull off another impressive scalp at the FIFA World Cup 2022 when they face Portugal in Saturday’s quarterfinal clash at the Al Thumama Stadium.
Morocco and Portugal will lock horns for a place in the semi-finals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, with the Atlas Lions looking to continue their fairytale run.
The Atlas Lions are having an incredible campaign in Qatar and have qualified for the quarter-finals for the very first time after a thrilling penalty shootout upset of Spain, having also topped a difficult Group F ahead of such European establishments as Croatia and Belgium.
Morocco face another huge obstacle to progressing to the semi-finals, with Portugal putting on arguably the best performance of the World Cup so far against Switzerland on Tuesday. They will hope their fans can create a boisterous atmosphere to drive them through the barrage of attacks that Portugal will dish at them.
As the last African side standing, not only will the rest of Africa support them, but Arabs and Asians have also jumped on board. Meanwhile, Portugal boss Fernando Santos stunned the world by leaving Cristiano Ronaldo out of their Round of 16 game against Switzerland.
While it still remains unclear whether the decision to drop the former Manchester United striker from his starting XI was for tactical or disciplinary reasons, it proved to be a masterstroke as they absolutely annihilated Switzerland 6-1, with his replacement, Goncalo Ramos, announcing himself to the world by becoming the first player in the World Cup to score a hat-trick.
The Atlas Lions, though, are set to be a tricky test for the UEFA Euro 2016 winners and will have to be at their attacking and creative best if they want to snap Morocco’s dream run, which has seen them knock out a Spanish team that had previously smashed Costa Rica 7-0 with a defensive masterclass. The Hard Tackle looks at how both sides could line up on the night and what tactics they might employ.
Team News & Tactics
Morocco
فرحة تأهل المنتخب الوطني لربع نهاية كأس العالم 🤩
Moroccan fans warmly welcome the National Team after their qualification to the quarter-finals 🥳#DimaMaghrib 🇲🇦 #TeamMorocco #FIFAWorldCup @pumafootball pic.twitter.com/zwm3ZRgrUB
— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) December 6, 2022
Morocco’s historic triumph over Spain may have come at a cost after two hours of energy-draining football action. West Ham United defender Nayef Aguerd was forced off with a muscle problem in the dying embers of normal time and remains a doubt for this one, which will be a significant blow at centre-back for head coach Walid Regragui.
His centre-back partner, and Morocco captain Romain Saiss, will be evaluated prior to the game as well, after having long treatment and strapping to his thigh the last time out, although he played on and is rushing to be back fit in time. Experienced Real Valladolid defender Jawad El Yamiq has been put on standby and will slot in, in what is set to be the only change for the Atlas Lions from their win over Spain.
Both full-backs, Achraf Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui had been carrying knocks throughout the competition before returning to the game. Meanwhile, Sofyan Amrabat shook off a back problem to put on a defensive midfield masterclass against Spain.
Selim Amallah is expected to continue to partner with Amrabat and Azzedine Ounahi in the middle of the park ahead of Abdelhamid Sabiri. Morocco’s success in Qatar has largely been built on a solid defensive footing, with the team conceding only one goal in four games, including clean sheets against Croatia, Belgium, and Spain.
However, the Atlas Lions proved in their win over Spain that they are more than happy to sit back and defend while offering plenty of danger on the counter-attack. Central to this strategy is Hakim Ziyech, whose creativity provides Morocco with their most potent attacking asset. Meanwhile, Sofiane Boufal remains a natural, skillful dribbler who can make things happen with his direct running.
Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri has scored 27 goals in 47 appearances for his club over the past two years and also netted what turned out to be the winning goal for his country against Canada. He will continue to lead the line for Morocco against Portugal and will look to get on the scoresheet.
Elsewhere in between the sticks, there is no getting past Yassine Bounou, who proved the hero between the sticks for Morocco, saving two of Spain’s three opening spot-kicks with the other hitting the post. The Sevilla shot-stopper has been a master of coming out on top in penalty shoot-outs throughout his stint with Los Sevillistas, notably shining in the Europa League. He has now taken his talents to the grandest stage.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Bounou; Hakimi, Yamiq Saiss, Mazraoui; Ounahi, Amrabat, Amallah; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal
Portugal
Similar to his counterpart in the opposition dugout, manager Fernando Santos has his own fair share of injury concerns to deal with. But the incredible depth and quality of his roster make life easy for him. Danilo Pereira was not in the squad for the victory against Switzerland and will most likely be absent for this encounter through injury, while Nuno Mendes has been ruled out of the World Cup with a thigh injury.
Santos also has a personnel dilemma in determining whether to deploy the same XI that excelled against Switzerland or to start senior players Cristiano Ronaldo and Joao Cancelo.
𝕃𝕆𝔸𝔻𝕀ℕ𝔾… 🇵🇹 🆚 🇲🇦 #VesteABandeira #WearTheFlag pic.twitter.com/yrXYzZe5FP
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) December 8, 2022
Tactically, Portugal can be a very dangerous team in transition. That was evident in their performances against Switzerland last time out when they found joy in bypassing the middle and attacking aggressively and vertically. They defend from the mid-block, so don’t expect relentless high-pressing or forced turnovers.
Instead, they try to find pockets of space in between defensive lines and exploit them via their technically brilliant attackers in Bernardo Silva, Otavio, and Joao Felix, while their full-backs Diogo Dalot and Raphael Guerreiro have the license to maraud forwards high up the pitch to provide additional width and create overloads, with the latter even scoring a peach of a goal last time out.
The 21-year-old Benfica hitman, Goncalo Ramos, may keep his place in the starting lineup after that incredible hat trick. With penalty-box merchants as Ronaldo, Andre Silva, and an elite dribbler-cum-chance-creator like Rafael Leao on the bench, they have an embarrassment of riches in attacking talent.
Elsewhere, Carvalho will act as the out-and-out defensive enforcer tasked with protecting the backline. The “Grand Daddy of All,” Pepe, who became the oldest player to score in knockout rounds of FIFA World Cup finals history at 39, will marshal the central defence alongside Ruben Dias, with Diogo Costa lining up in goal once again for his country.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Costa; Dalot, Pepe, Dias, Guerreiro; B. Silva, Carvalho, Otavio; Fernandes, Ramos, Felix
Key Stats
- Morocco and Portugal will meet for the third time, with the other two meetings taking place at the World Cup itself. Morocco won the first (3-1) in a group stage match in 1986, before Portugal prevailed 1-0 in the 2018 tournament, again in a group.
- Morocco are unbeaten in their last 5 FIFA World Cup matches (W2, D3), their longest-ever streak without defeat in the competition.
- The Atlas Lions are looking to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup tournament. Indeed, the last three African teams to reach the quarterfinals were all eliminated at this stage: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and famously, Ghana in 2010.
- The Africans have kept clean sheets in five of their last six matches and three at this year’s World Cup, the most ever by an African outfit in a single edition of the tournament.
- Portugal have won both of their quarterfinal games at the World Cup so far, defeating DPR Korea in 1966 and England in 2006.
Player to Watch
Goncalo Ramos
If you did not know who Goncalo Ramos was before, you do now. The 21-year-old striker was handed a surprise start ahead of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo. And he repaid Fernando Santos’s faith with a brilliant match-winning performance.
He did not skip a beat on his first-ever World Cup start in Qatar. If anything, he appeared to thrive under pressure and produced one of the all-time great performances in a World Cup knockout game. He bagged the first hat-trick of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and came away with an assist to his name as well to cap off a classic poacher’s display.
All eyes will once again be on the Benfica wonderkid, who has had a fine start to the 2022 season for both club and country. Not only is he leading the goalscoring charts in Portugal’s Primeira Liga, but he was instrumental in Benfica’s impressive Champions League run. And another top-class performance will attract many top clubs, with Real Madrid already tailing him.
Prediction
Morocco 1-1 Portugal (Portugal to win on penalties)
Portugal might have shipped six goals in their last game past a hapless Switzerland. But clearcut chances will be harder to come by against a well-organised team like Morocco, who have conceded only one goal at the World Cup so far. That, too, was an own-goal.
Morocco frustrated the life out of an utterly ignorant free-flowing Spain, who did not seem to realise that controlling the ball for ages and executing over a thousand short sideways passes over the 120 minutes was a bad idea.
The Atlas Lions will very probably try the same tactic against Portugal, and they showed they can be deadly on the counter-attack against Spain, with Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal capable of pulling a rabbit out of their hats with their mazy dribbling runs. Expect a very tight and tense 90 minutes between these two nations, which will most likely conclude in a draw, with both sides keen not to take any chances in extra time.
However, Portugal might give the Atlas Lions a dose of their own medicine in the penalty shootout, as they boast some ice-cool takers and some deadly strikers of the ball, who will smash it from 12 yards out rather than trying to caress the ball into the back of the net like Spain.
