Morocco has one point left in the first World Cup match in Qatar from the duel with vice-world champion Croatia. In a game that wavered up and down especially in the first half, no goals were scored. The Moroccans, with Hakim Ziyech, Noussair Mazraoui and Sofyan Amrabat in the starting line-up, had some good chances, but they failed to score. That also applied to the Croats, who had the better of the game, especially in the second half, but hardly became dangerous. The big blemish on the draw for the Moroccans was Mazraoui’s failure.
His starting place in the match against Croatia meant a return to the Moroccan national team for Ziyech after no less than 608 days of absence. Mazraoui was allowed to show it in an unusual left back position for him. Star player Achraf Hakimi is undisputed as a right back. Amrabat was positioned centrally as a controlling midfielder.
The Moroccans started the game in the Al Bayt Stadium nervously. After an error in the Moroccan build-up, Andrej Kramaric was able to run into the box in the fifth minute. It failed to print. Morocco recovered after ten minutes and left the panicky opening phase behind. Mazraoui first appeared in the penalty area and Dejan Lovren cracked a shot from Ziyech. A beautiful twisting cross from the same Ziyech was just missed by Youssef En-Nesyri. The Moroccan danger came continuously from the ex-player of Ajax.
The Croats sporadically became dangerous, but always after sloppiness in the Moroccan field game. For example, Ivan Perisic was able to hit hard from about 25 meters after Selim Amallah just slid the ball into his feet. However, his bet went over. On the other side, Morocco received a free kick on the edge of sixteen, after Luka Modric had stepped on Hakimi’s foot. Ziyech, however, planted the ball in the wall in front of Dominik Livakovic’s goal. The final chord in the first act was for the Croats. In injury time they had two great chances for the opening goal. First, Yassine Bounou made an excellent save on the line on a ticker from Nikola Vlasic. Modric then shot a falling ball furiously over.
Mazraoui drops out
Shortly after the break, Livakovic first parried a shot from Boufal and then also acted on the rebound that was headed into the short corner by Mazraoui. A Croatian corner on the other side was taken off the line by Amrabat. A big blemish for the Moroccans was the failure of Mazraoui, who had to be replaced after fifteen minutes after he had gone wrong with his previous chance. Not much later, Hakimi crossed after a good sprint, but En-Nesyri was not reached. A devastating free kick from the right back, after Modric had committed another foul, was tapped out of the corner by Livakovic.
Although the Croatians were often on the ball, this did not lead to great opportunities and the attackers were hardly put to work. The invisible Kramaric was thus replaced by Marko Livaja. Croatia then came close to scoring the opening goal after a Modric free kick was tapped over his own goal by En-Nesyri. The forces seemed to be draining away from the Moroccans, but Croatia was unable to take advantage of this and the glasses position remained on the board.