Morocco v. Portugal Al Khor (Al Bayt Stadium) Dec 10, 2022 6 pm - Qatar 3 pm - London (GMT) 10 am - New York City
Seeing UEFA crowds are getting full of themselves after a single Portugal great performance forgetting they needed a fake penalty to beat Ghana, struggled with Uruguay and lost to South Korea (albeit with a B team). Also everyone underestimates how well oiled Regragui's defence is. Mazraoui and Hakimi are probably the best fullback duo in the competition (Hakimi will like make the tournament best XI), Aguerd and Saiss are rock solid, Bono is a class goalkeeper and ahead of them Amrabat has been a standout. Regragui is a great coach that understands the players. With all due respect but Switzerland had Sommer, Schar and Rodriguez (and of course Akanji and Xhaka). Tactically they also played it wrong. Portugal will be favorites, but at this stage expecting Morocco to be pushovers is reaching.
It's not going to be easy, but Portugal are definitely favourites. The important thing is to not underestimate the opponent. A win here will require maximum effort and lots of patience, Morocco will play tight at the back and we all know that's what Portugal struggles with (as evidence but consistently underperforming in qualifying/group stages). Ronaldo header for the 1-0 coming off the bench, beating a tough Morocco that never quits and deserves lots of credit... ....I hope!
Nah, dude, we won relatively comfortably against Uruguay and Ghana given they are no pushovers, then against SK we were more focused on yellows and not getting injuries. Switzerland we were just magnificent. If anything, the worry isn't that we struggled, it's that we weren't tested so far and Morocco is probably a tougher nut to crack than any of the other 4.
This is post is so full of irony I can't even I can't wait for the 2 page excuses in case the unthinkable happens
Ghana was 0:0 before a phantom penalty and they almost tied in the final minutes after a massive mess up in defence. You won but it wasn't easy. Uruguay defended well until Portugal went ahead, but then Uruguay went very close to scoring on several opportunities. Uruguay lost 2:0 with a lucky PK in injury time. South Korea sort of doesn't count. And I do agree that Morocco has presented themselves way better than any team Portugal has faced so far. Morocco also had tougher opposition.
I said comfortable, not easy. We were never in danger of losing, at worst a draw and led for most of the match, without any moments where we were put against the ropes. This is the World Cup, these are all teams with talent. I don't expect confortable to mean 3 or 4 nil.
It will be interesting to see this team if they go behind first. Neither Portugal nor Morocco have had that happen yet.
How about Ghana needed a poor defensive lapse by Cancelo than a deflection by Dias to create a open header when the game should have been put to bed. Struggled with Uruguay lol. Lost to Korea lol you know inside that if that's a must game win for Portugal, Korea is losing by 3 minimum. Since you fans of lesser confederations enjoy moral victories I guess we'll ignore context. Also even the B team would have beaten Korea if it was necessary but okay let's move on. I have the upmost respect for Morocco, in fact I consider myself a fan. I just think if you could see things objectively, than you know full well Portugal has the better team and if both teams play to their strengths and potential than Portugal wins this game. Morocco will be tough no doubt, but you can't fault people for picking Portugal. You also have to realize that most people would rather Portugal lose, they just can't see it happening no matter how much they'd love it. Anyway @zahzah I still hold hope for you to one day become as objective as one can but I know it's hard to argue with your heart.......sorry I meant @Jon Stakes
Portugal is definetely the favourite, I just hope we don't lose with a big score. Our players are tired and many are injured including Hakimi and Amrabat.
You know that if Morocco goes to the final against Brazil he will proclaim CAF the second best Confederation in the World after CONMEBOL, don't you? I am already expecting after a non European Final it will be proclaimed as the decline of UEFA. After all that was the narrative here for 2 ********ing weeks.
Calm down, you're acting like Morocco doesn't have a negative expected goal difference at this tournament. It drew Croatia while posting 0.5 xG (less than Croatia). It beat Canada while posting 0.5 xG (less than Canada). It drew Spain while posting 0.7 xG (less than Spain). Morocco is riding its luck and on borrowed time. Portugal has allowed 5 dumb goals and still has a +7 goal differential.
Low xG because Croatia,Belgium, Spain is not South korea , Ghana , Switzerland ... Our path to the quarter was the hardest one , i think you only watched the last match against spain , we are far better than Switzerland , even if Portugal scored first we can put a good fight , we can play possession football too , unlike Switzerland .
I believe you're correct. Overall Morocco has had the more difficult path to the QF. Just not sure I Believe Belgium is more difficult than Ghana and definitely not more difficult than Uruguay. I know they were still holding onto the brand name from years past but many including myself knew the current Belgium was more a 14th to 18th kinda team at this WC. I would also add not to underestimate Switzerland because of a disaster of a game, just like Portugal should not get hyped because of 1 game too. They went down by 2 from a wonder goal and corner and just like that they mentally checked out. I think the world is finally taking notice of Morocco but I've had my eye closely on them ever since the last WC. I can't speak on the injuries or fatigue, but if Morocco plays like Morocco than we are in for a dog fight.
I hate to break it to you, but Morocco likely would've put up its usual xG numbers against South Korea, Ghana and Switzerland too because its doesn't possess the ball or create many chances. In 4 matches, they haven't had more than 42% possession in a single match yet, and on average they've had 33.7% possession. They're averaging 1 shot every 13 minutes. They're averaging 1 SOG every 39 minutes. No team is likely to keep winning playing that way, especially without a lethal striker up front. For the sake of comparison, Portugal was eviscerated for its style of play during the Euro 2016 knockouts and deemed incredibly lucky. In those 4 matches, they averaged a shot every 8.5 minutes and a SOG every 28 minutes. Sure, Morocco can beat Portugal, it just isn't likely. But who knows, maybe they're another 2004 Greece.
Now you're disrespecting Switzerland. Switzerland is a good, solid team, with good players. We just played exceptionally well, it's not like we would crush them 7 times out of 10. They beat Serbia and Cameroon and lost marginally to Brazil. I think that on a different day Switzerland could have caused us problems (we one won and lost one vs them in the Nations League last June, and so did Spain). The 6-1 is a reflection of a bad day for them and an excellent for us. It happens. You're a good, solid team, with good players. If you had been paired vs Switzerland, I don't think any team would be clear favorites.
Co Correct me if i am wrong , isn't Switzerland always been a defensive side team ? I was surprised when they played more attacking against Portugal , they played against their nature, they didnt respect Portugal enough and got punished, ofc you played it well too , but we are definitely better than them, because we can switch between two plans defensive and attacking . it's same as Portugal in some ways.
Nice stats ,but you missed the most amazing one , we only allowed 7 shots on goal on us and we did 11 shots against our opponents , Greece 2004 was ultra defensive side playing low-block , we play mid-block .
Switzerland didn't come out ultra conservative against Portugal, but they also weren't very aggressive. It wasn't until 2-0 that everything opened up and Portugal had all that space to counter. There was a lot of just passing the ball around for the opening half hour and Portugal had the better of the possession and only really started to probe the final third when Ramos scored the unstoppable opener. Then the 2nd goal forced the Swiss to push forward more and that was that. I've never felt like the Swiss are truly a defensive side, but they aren't the most dangerous attack either, so I think it just depends on the opponent. Their possession at this tournament was 49% whereas in qualifying it was 64%. At Euro 2020 it was 48% while at the 2018 WC it was 59%. And they've been playing with the same core for a number of years now.