At 12:00 Latvian time, world runners-up Croatia will play Morocco in sub-group F, at 15:00 Germany and Japan will play each other in sub-group E, at 18:00 there will be a match between Spain and Costa Rica in the same group, and at 21:00 Belgium will play against Canada in subgroup F. The final tournament is broadcast live on the Latvian TV channel 7.
The national teams of Croatia and Morocco have not met in official tournaments and will start the final tournament with streaks: the Croatians have won five in a row, while the Moroccans have not lost for seven games in a row. In 1996, the two national teams fought in an international trial tournament, which ended in a 2:2 draw, but the Croatians were superior in the post-match penalty shootout.
Akim Ziyesh is in form for the Moroccan national team, who scored a fine goal on Thursday in the test match against Georgia. Besides him, Morocco also has high-level players like Achraf Hakimi and Najef Agerd.
The Croatian national team, Latvia’s opponents in Euro 2024 qualifying, traveled to Qatar with an experienced squad, which includes the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Perišić, Mateo Kovačić and Marcelo Brozovič, 2018 Player of the Year.
For the first time, Germany and Japan will also meet in the final tournament. The last time the two sides met was in 2006, when the test match ended in a 2:2 draw.
The participation of Antonio Ridiger and the experienced Thomas Müller in the match is under discussion, but it has already been reported that Leeroy Sane will not play in the first leg. In Japan, Wataru Endo and Hidemasa Morita continue to recover from injuries.
Also, for the first time ever, Spain and Costa Rica will face off in the final tournament. However, the national teams have played three test matches, most recently five years ago when the Spaniards won 5-0 in Malaga.
There is optimism in Spain for Alvaro Morata, despite the Atletico Madrid forward’s absence from last week’s friendly against Jordan. On the other hand, Costa Rica is ready to field its brightest star: goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who achieved international honors in the 2014 final tournament.
So far, the national teams of Belgium and Canada have not met.
The Belgians will be without striker Romelu Lukaku for the first leg with a hamstring injury, while multi-talented Alphonso Davies is ready to help the Canadians, at least for now.
The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four national teams each. The two best teams in each group will advance to the round of 16 and continue the fight for the most prestigious trophy in football.
Qatar is the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup. There has been one championship in Asia so far, and it was jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002.
This is also the first tournament to be held in late autumn instead of the usual summer months due to the extreme heat in Qatar.
This is the last tournament involving 32 teams, as from the next World Cup in 2026, 48 national teams will start the competition.
In the final stage of the 2018 World Cup, which took place in Russia, France became champions, beating Croatia 4:2 in the decisive match.
