Moroccan question dominates debate as the Atlas Lions eye Portugal upset
By Isaac Swila in Doha
Eye-catching performances,
resoluteness at the back, and neatness on the ball, have earned Morocco’s Atlas
Lions the enviable giant-slayers tag.
With the odds stacked against them
and the bookmakers giving the squad little odds in their World Cup Finals
campaign, they’ve ripped the form book and the predictions to threads,
vanquishing all the opponents enroute to the quarter-finals.
Pooled in Group F alongside 2018
runners-up Croatia, the FIFA second-best ranked team Belgium, a star-studded
squad boasting of immense experience, and Canada, the Walid Regragui coached
side has shown little respect to the opposition.
They opened their group campaign by
earning a cherished point against Croatia. This proved vital in building the
players confidence, making it sky-high. Led by non-other than Luka Modric, the
evergreen playmaker, Croatia had everything to go for them in this litmus test
but Morocco’s mean defence, which has so far conceded just once in 390 minutes,
limited them to a barren draw.
Up next for the Lions was the
fancied Red Devils of Belgium. A clash between ‘Lions’ and ‘Devils’ would
definitely get everyone talking and Morocco did just that. They tore Kevin de
Bryune’s Devils to shreds for a 2-0 win, before completing an impressive group
stage run with a 2-1 win over already knocked out Canada, to secure passage to
the Last 16 as group leaders on seven points.
In the Last-16 they had nothing to
lose. Facing a former champion, in the frame of Spain, they developed a game
plan, allowing the Spaniards to boss possession and have more of the ball. The
Europeans, winners of the 2010 title in South Africa are masters in tiki
taka and Regragui, aware of this strength or weakness, opted to have a
tight defence, with the hope of catching their opponents from the run of play,
and use of the wings to launch attacks. The strategy worked and they could have
nicked a goal, late, late into extra time had it not been for lethargy.
Equally impressive about the Moroccans
is their players’ technical ability. They are confident and easy on the ball,
ably spraying the passes in tight passes even when under pressure. They do so
faultlessly, making football look sexy, if not easy. Of course, of the five
African teams that competed here - Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon and Ghana - no
one matches the Atlas Lions when it comes to technical ability.
Win drives the Gulf crazy
Important to note is that their
famous Round of 16 win against Spain has inspired Africa, and the Gulf states,
making for huge talking points here. The win has been celebrated in Saudi
Arabia, as has been in Qatar, Yemen and every corner of the Middle East with
the local media framing it as “first Middle East team.” In Qatar, the leading
daily newspaper The Gulf went heads over heel in its celebration,
with a complete picture of the squad celebrating on its frontpage while
international broadcaster Al Jazeera was not left behind.
But as their win unites the Arab world,
for football factualists, the Atlas Lions are here by virtue of the Africa
ticket, not the Arab, Middle East or Asian ticket. They are first, an Africa
team in this competition, before anything else – FIFA records state as much.
Facing the Portuguese
On Saturday, when they take on
Portugal from 6pm at Al Thumama Stadium, they could write more history if they
knock the Europeans out.
In Achraf Hakimi in defence, they
have one of the tournament’s standout players. Solid in defence, he’s a
ball-carrying defender who can instigate an attack by a simple spay of a pass.
How they line up and how badly they
want it will determine how far they go in this competition.
The author is an editor at RMS
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