Morocco vs Croatia

The first match of Group F takes place on Wednesday 23rd November at the Al Bayt Stadium and will be between Morocco and Croatia.

This will be Morocco’s sixth appearance in the World Cup finals and the North African nation qualified by beating D.R. Congo 4-1 on aggregate in the third-stage playoffs. Prior to that, they finished top of their qualification group, winning all six games but scoring 20 goals and conceding just one. Those stats may be flattering somewhat given the standard of opponents that they faced on their journey but nevertheless they qualified and will look to make it out of what is a relatively tough group.

Along with Croatia, Morocco will face both Canada and Belgium on route to the knockout stages which will be a tough journey for them if they make it.

Morocco do have some players of note and the team is ranked 24th in the World by FIFA – just eight places below their first opponents Croatia.

Achraf Hakimi is perhaps their most valuable player with the right-back having spells at top clubs such as Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and since the July 2021, Paris Saint-Germain. Hakimi has scored three goals and made six assists in 28 league appearances this season for PSG which are respectable numbers for a right-back.

Along with Hakimi, Morroco’s squad includes Sevilla goalkeeper Bono and centre-forward Youuef En-Haddadi.

In their five World Cup appearances to date, Morocco have won just two games, managing just one draw at Russia 2018 which surprisingly was against Spain.

Croatia are regulars at the World Cup and made it through to the final in 2018 after knocking out England in extra time of the semi-finals. They were outclassed by France in the final stage, being beaten 4-2 in Moscow.

Behind Belgium, Croatia are the favourites to qualify from Group F but it won’t be a walk in the park for them. They have some great players in their squad such as Luka Modrić but both Morocco and Canada, who have been transformed under English manager John Herdman in recent years, will certainly put up a fight.

Croatia finished top of their qualifying group to reach the finals, finishing above the likes of Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia. They’re priced at just over Evens to beat Morroco which I think is a fair price and I’d be willing to back them at those odds.

These two teams will likely battle it out for second place in the group and so neither side will want to lose this crucial match. I can envision a slightly nervy affair with Croatia ultimately coming away with the three points.

I’m backing a low-scoring victory for Croatia in this match. 1-2 wouldn’t be out of the question but my money would go on 0-1.

I’m not expecting a flurry of goals in this game and so I’d predict both sides to not get on the scoresheet.

There isn’t one player that stands out to me in either side that I’d be confident in backing as first goalscorer. During qualification for this tournament, Modric, Pasalic and Perisic all found the net 3 times in 10 games. In Croatia’s more recent Nations League campaign, it was Modric again who notched up the most goals but his tally was just 2.

At the age of 37, Luka Modrić still has what it takes to compete at the higfest level and he’d be my pick in the majority of Croatia’s matches at the World Cup. He’s 10/1 to bag the first goal which does change my mind about having a small wager on him.

I think backing Draw/Croatia in the HT/FT market may be worth considering given that it’s the opening fixture for the two sides and they both may start off cagey. Draw/Croatia is priced at 9/2 with Spreadex.

I’d back Tottenham winger Ivan Perišić to be carded in this opening fixture for the two sides. The Croatian has been on the receiving end of cards from the referee for both club and country this season and so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him name get pencilled in the book.

Morocco vs Croatia Lineup

Morocco starting lineup:
Bono; Hakimi, Saiss, Aguerd, Mazraoui; Ounahi, Amrabat, Amallah; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal

Croatia starting lineup:
Livakovic; Sosa, Lovren, Gvardiol, Juranovic; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Vlasic, Kramaric, Perisic

Morocco World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou (Sevilla), Munir El Kajoui (Al Wehda), Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (Wydad Casablanca).

Defenders: Nayef Aguerd (West Ham United), Yahia Attiat Allah (Wydad Casablanca), Badr Benoun (Qatar SC), Achraf Dari (Stade Brest), Jawad El Yamiq (Real Valladolid), Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich), Romain Saiss (Besiktas).

Midfielders: Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina), Selim Amallah (Standard Liege), Bilal El Khannouss (Racing Genk), Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Casablanca), Azzedine Ounahi (Angers), Abdelhamid Sabiri (Sampdoria).

Forwards: Zakaria Aboukhlal (Toulouse), Soufiane Boufal (Angers), Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers), Walid Cheddira (Bari), Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla), Abde Ezzalzouli (Osasuna), Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al Ittihad), Amine Harit (Olympique Marseille), Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea).

Croatia World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Ivica Ivusic (Osijek), Ivo Grbic (Atletico Madrid)

Defenders: Domagoj Vida (AEK Athens), Dejan Lovren (Zenit Saint Petersburg), Borna Barisic (Rangers), Josip Juranovic (Celtic), Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig), Borna Sosa (Stuttgart), Josip Stanisic (Bayern Munich), Martin Erlic (Sassuolo), Josip Sutalo (Dinamo Zagreb)

Midfielders: Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea), Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan), Mario Pasalaic (Atalanta), Nikola Vlasic (Torino), Lovro Majer (Rennes), Kristijan Jakic (Eintracht Frankfurt), Luka Sucic (Red Bull Salzburg)

Forwards: Ivan Perisic (Tottenham), Andrej Kramaric (1899 Hoffenheim), Bruno Petkovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Mislav Orsic (Dinamo Zagreb), Ante Budimir (Osasuna), Marko Livaja (Hajduk Split)