Morocco predicted lineup vs Portugal - World Cup quarter-final
Morocco face Portugal on Saturday afternoon as just the fourth African team to ever qualify for the quarter-finals of a men's World Cup.
2022 has been an annus mirabilis for Walid Regragui. Barely six months after leading Morocco's Wydad to the CAF Champions League title, the so-called "Moroccan Guardiola" has masterminded his nation's greatest-ever showing at a World Cup.
After being crowned club champions of Africa in May, Regragui shouted: “Performance, performance … There is your performance,” at the critics who had claimed he valued substance over style.
Here's the XI Regragui may deploy to get another result for his national team.
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- Portugal predicted lineup vs Morocco - World Cup quarter-final
Morocco predicted lineup vs Portugal (4-3-3)
GK: Yassine Bounou - Morocco's custodian became the first goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup penalty shootout since Ukraine's Oleksandr Shovkovskyi in 2006.
RB: Achraf Hakimi - Regragui's predecessor, Vahid Halilhodzic, was so in awe of Hakimi that one piece of praise didn't sit quite so well with some of his other players. “He is playing excellent football," Halilhodzic gushed, "and I am not sure his teammates are playing the same sport.”
CB: Jawad El Yamiq - After Real Valladolid's relegation last year, El Yamiq had his car dented, a tire punctured and the words "go away hdp" scratched into the side of the door. He is still at Valladolid who are back in La Liga.
CB: Badr Benoun - When former Morocco manager Herve Renard tried to call up Benoun for the 2019 AFCON, after leaving him out of the 2018 World Cup squad, the centre-back wasn't impressed. "I told him I was on holiday," he admitted. Any winter trips were put on hold this year.
LB: Noussair Mazraoui - The Bayern Munich fullback fell out with Halilhodzic "because of a bottle". To boil down a tete-a-tete which doesn't flatter either party, Mazraoui didn't take a drink during training when Halilhodzic told him to. Fortunately, Regragui quickly ushered Mazraoui back into the setup.
CM: Azzedine Ounahi - No player left in the competition has applied more defensive pressures than the tireless Ounahi (245).
CM: Sofyan Amrabat - Despite being born in the Netherlands, it's safe to say that Amrabat considers himself to be Moroccan. “I’m from Morocco, my parents are from Morocco, my grandparents are from Morocco, I have Moroccan blood." Luckily he's not self-conscious about his nationality.
CM: Selim Amallah - The 26-year-old has never played club football outside the country of his birth, Belgium, but has been a near ever-present in the national team this year.
RW: Hakim Ziyech - Before the tournament, the Dutch icon Marco van Basten lamented Ziyech's lack of game-time at Chelsea. “It is a pity for the whole of football that he is on the bench." Yet, the former striker spearheaded the attack on Ziyech when he chose to represent the Atlas Lions back in 2016. “How stupid can you be to choose Morocco if you are in contention for the Dutch national team?” Van Basten sniped.
ST: Youssef En-Nesyri - Not only did En-Nesyri make history by becoming the first Moroccan to score in consecutive World Cups but the Sevilla striker has now found the net in each of his country's last five major international tournaments.
LW: Sofiane Boufal - Back in September, Boufal made a confident prediction. “You’re going to think I’m a crazy person," he told Hanif Ben Berkane. "But if we get past the group stage, and we will Inshallah, we are going to the quarter-finals, we will be the surprise." Boufal's lottery numbers may be worth copying this week.
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