World Cup 2018: Morocco's Talisman

[Dr Strangemoosh]

I'm more frightened about Morocco than Portugal or Spain, I think they can swing a surprise and even top the group and go far. Their midfield is stacked with Belhanda in the middle dictating play, Amrabat and Ziyech out wide. Boufal can come on for Belhanda. Then in defence they have a very solid unit just like ours, lead by this guy:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...tes-in-style-as-juventus-win-to-nil-yet-again

We have better forwards, but I'm worried these guys will outplay and stifle us and not give our strikers a chance.

 

[Babr]

I was thinking about the same thing, on paper they have a quite strong squad, probably the best African team we ever faced in WC in level of individual talents. But as once one of my Moroccan friends said, African teams are so unpredictable, either North Africans or the rest.

I think defense is their advantage for sure, have a feeling we will see another 0-0 game, because they also play a defensive football.

 

[Sly]

I'm more frightened about Morocco than Portugal or Spain, I think they can swing a surprise and even top the group and go far. Their midfield is stacked with Belhanda in the middle dictating play, Amrabat and Ziyech out wide. Boufal can come on for Belhanda. Then in defence they have a very solid unit just like ours, lead by this guy:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...tes-in-style-as-juventus-win-to-nil-yet-again

We have better forwards, but I'm worried these guys will outplay and stifle us and not give our strikers a chance.

Add to that they will have the highest motivation against us than Spain and Portugal who might think a win is a given, and yes, you are right.

Imagine if both Morocco and Iran pull off a shock and end up as 1st and 2nd team in this group though. lol

 

[Payandeh Iran]

I was about the same thing, on paper they have a quite strong squad, probably the best African team we ever faced in WC in level of individual talents. But as once one of my Moroccan friends said, African teams are so unpredictable, either North Africans or the rest.

I think defense is their advantage for sure, have a feeling we will see another 0-0 game, because they also play a defensive football.

Actually I think it will be a game with 3-4 goals in it. Both teams know this game will be their best chance to advance from the group so settling for a tie should not be an option.

 

[Finally]

We rack up really well against Moroccans both physically and technically. Their advantage is that most of their players play in European leagues and they are used to playing at high speed and be able to keep it up for 90+ minutes.
We used to play pickup games against Moroccans every week and one thing for sure is that they are just as emotional as we are if not more. That's something that can work against them.