As the match between Morocco and Spain in the World Cup in Qatar approaches on Tuesday, the International Federation of Association Football has published “scaredOn his official website the history of the clashes and the facts of the two teams.
Morocco moved to the top of Group Six, beating Croatia, Belgium and Canada, and Spain moved up to second place in Group Five, which was overtaken by Japan and included Germany and Costa Rica.
The Moroccan national team presented itself as one of the best teams during the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar.
During the first round, the Atlas Lions performed very well, characterized by a defensive and offensive balance, and several stars emerged on them, Sofiane Amrabat, Youssef Al-Nusairi and Nayef Akrad, together with Paris Saint-Germain star Ashraf Hakimi, according to Fifa reports.
The medical staff of the Morocco national team are making great efforts to prepare Ashraf Hakimi to face Spain, after he was prejudiced against himself and played injured against Canada, while Salim Amlah prepared for the match.
Spain coach Luis Enrique will return to push his main stars during the match after resting them against Japan, and there are doubts about the ability to play Cesar Atpilquita, who could play in his place, Dani Carvajal.
Dating history
Expected decisive clash between the Moroccan and Spanish national teams, today, Tuesday, in the draw for the first leg of the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar..with…
Posted by Alhurra Free Channel up Monday 5 December 2022
The Moroccan and Spanish teams have collected 3 previous matches, one of which was in the World Cup Finals.
The first meeting was in a World Cup qualifier in Chile in 1962, and Spain won the first leg in Morocco with one goal and the second leg in Madrid 3-2 to qualify for the final tournament.
The sides’ third match was in Russia 2018 during the group stage, and ended in a 2-2 draw, with Youssef Al-Nusairi scoring one of the Atlas Lions’ two goals.
The most important numbers of the two teams
The last time Spain progressed beyond the round of 16 was in 2010 when they were crowned champions in South Africa.
Morocco participates in the round of 16 for the second time in their history, the first was in 1986 when they lost against Germany with a clear goal.
Spain played five matches against African teams in the World Cup, winning three, drawing one and losing one, and it was against Nigeria in the 1998 edition of France, with a score of 3-2.
Morocco have gone undefeated in their last four World Cup matches, winning two and drawing two. The only African team that has gone on without losing five consecutive matches was Cameroon between 1982 and 1990.
potential training
Morocco: Bono, Hakimi, Akrad, Sais, Mazraoui, Sabry, Amrabat, Onahi, Ziyech, Nusairi, Yuval.
Spain: Simon, Alba, Laporte, Rodri, Azpilicueta or Carvajal, Pedri, Busquets, Javi, Ferran Torres, Asensio, Dani Olmo.
The match between Morocco and Spain will be played on Monday at 18:00 local time at the Education City Stadium.
Comment from the coaches
Spain coach Luis Enrique said: “We have a clear idea of the match and we will try to put it into practice. We are playing in the World Cup and playing among the best teams. The Moroccan national team led the table in a very difficult group and it is best teams in that tournament and they are presenting great levels.”
In turn, Walid Regragui, coach of Morocco, said: “I think it will be a difficult match for us.
Al-Rakraki confirmed on Monday that his team is counting on his values, qualities and qualifications to “create a surprise against Spain” in the final price tag of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday.
Rekragui said at a press conference on the eve of the match: “We expect a difficult game, but similar to our confrontations with Croatia, Belgium and Canada (in the first round), I have been saying this to the players since we entered the competition in this competition that we will play the finals, it will be our fourth final, we will enter it to win like its predecessors, with our values, qualities and qualifications (…) This result deserves the maximum effort so that we do not regret it, because failure can make us regret this opportunity.
The Spanish national team coach, Luis Enrique, has given each of his players the “imposition” to practice taking a thousand penalty kicks before traveling to Qatar for the World Cup final, because he is convinced it is not a lottery, but part of the game.
