It’s a day of records and rewards as Morocco will take on Spain at the Education City Stadium in what is set to be a scintillating encounter.
Morocco are not only carrying the hope and expectations of a nation, but, that of a whole continent as they are the only African team left in this tournament following the humbling departure of African Champions Senegal.
Morocco heads into the clash with the believe and motivation that they can defeat Spain and that morale is being transmitted from coach Walid Regragui who urged his boys to “aim for the Sky”.
The Atlas Lions emerged top of a group that had Last edition’s finalist Croatia and Belgium and finished unbeaten.
Spain on contrast will have their 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica to thank as it enabled them to edge Germany on goal difference, finishing second behind Japan.
The former World champions will also need a lot of confidence, but will be encouraged by their head-to-head record against them as they have not lost against Morocco in their three previous meetings (2W 1D).
Meanwhile, Morocco’s strong outing in the group stage means that they are now unbeaten in their last four world cup appearance a streak that started against Spain who needed a last minute Iago Aspas goal to snatch a 2-2 draw.
They will also be aiming to equal Cameroon’s feat of going five games without defeat for an African team at the World Cup.
Morocco have a strong defensive record in this tournament, they’ve conceded only one goal in this tournament – an unfortunate own goal.
However they still have their work cut out for them as they face a Spanish team that has found the back of the net in all their games so far and required only 11 minutes to break the deadlock against Costa Rica and Japan.
Spain are Unbeaten against African oppositions in five previous meetings and have only lost once to an African team when they lost 3-2 to Nigeria in 1998 and current head coach Luis Enrique will hope it doesn’t repeat itself as he started that particular encounter for La Roja as a player.
Morocco strong defensive record will be their major asset as teams have failed to pick apart a defense led by PSG’s Achraf Hakimi and Bayern’s Noussair Mazraoui.
They also have a strong attacking Unit led by Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech and Sevilla’s Youssef En Nesyri, who will be aiming to be the first Moroccan player to score three world cup goals, interestingly his first World cup goal was against today’s Opposition in 2018.
The Atlas Lions have their work cut out for them, as they will have to work harder against an opposition that averages at least 70 percent of the ball possession and have gone past the 80 percentile in two of their last three games.
