They're playing great, but Portugal could very well have 7+ SOG by itself on Saturday. Or it could struggle as it often does against teams that sit back and cede possession. I think facing a mid block suits Portugal just fine, it's low block and pressing teams that Portugal struggles with, so if Morocco plays a passive mid block and doesn't press much in the middle, they could be in trouble. Portugal has been impressively patient with its attack, so I'm confident it'll find the spaces it needs to find if it has the 2/3rds possession Morocco's opponents have been getting.
No team uses only one style throughout 90 minutes, but Morocco used mostly a mid bloc against Croatia (0:0), and against Belgium (2:0). It used in almost equal measure a mid bloc and low bloc against Canada (2:1) since it had the lead. Against Spain (0:0), it employed mostly a low bloc.
Switzerland has changed coaches a lot, and plays differently almost very tournament I have seen them. You never really know with them how they will play. I say they tend to be more defensive than attacking but not unusually. Like in Euro 2020, they played with a lot of possession / direct attacking football. They were defensive but tried to keep the ball and attack more. They are very inconsistent, kind of like the Arsenal of National Teams.
I am surprised Morocco vs Portugal is early than France vs England. France and England have had two days rest more, why not at least let Morocco-Portugal have 4 hours more rest on the day.
I hope Portugal put a few goals past Morocco. Morocco's extremely negative tactics in the game against Spain were disgraceful.
Why do you make it sound like Morocco is the only side to prevail over Spain using a low bloc? In WC18, Russia (despite being host and trailing most of the 1st half), beat Spain on penalties in the R16 having even less possession (21%) and shots on goal (1) against them than Morocco. You can compare the stats here and here. Japan beat Spain in the group stage of this World Cup with a record low possession of 17%! Costa Rica, otoh, was thrashed 7:0 with only 18% possession. Even Germany, which usually dominates possession, had only 35% possession against Spain in the group stage-- much of it after they fell behind. p.s. all that said, I prefer Portugal to prevail, not because anything Morocco has done to get here (they have been one of the better teams in Qatar and a quarterfinal finish rates them properly), but because I think Portugal is loaded with talent and playing to their potential, they are as good as their 6:1 win over Switzerland.
Morocco have not been among the best teams. They will not develop as a team with a coach playing ultra-negatively. It is a road to nowhere.
Morocco does not play negatively, much less ultra-negatively! Everyone else pretty much ceded possession to Spain as well. Even Germany!
That is how it appeared to me. If they want to develop as a team they will have to adopt a more enterprising approach.
Alternate reality. But every team that beats tiki taka does it like this. Blame boring defensive tiki taka.
Morocco has been one of the most entertaining sides of this World Cup. Calling them boring and defensive is just lazy analysis. They remind me a lot about Costa Rica in 2014, but with more quality in defense. They did look absolutely shattered for large parts of the second half and beyond against Spain, but still managed to get into some good positions in the final third. That said, Spain are terrible and easy to play against. Block off access to your goal from the middle and they will pass themselves to death. Portugal are a lot more incisive and Morocco will likely have a few key players missing for the match.
In Africa we take the possession against most teams but this is the World Cup and we have to adapt because we want results, we don't want to open the doors to entertain neutral fans by conceding 7 goals and then be called naive Africans by the media. When we will be used to go to 1/2 finals of World Cups we can be cocky enough to challenge Spain on possession. For now we adapt.
Winning is the best advertisement for any team trying to reach a higher level. Only at the very top might something else matter more.
It's a tournament and Morocco is trying to win matches, which makes complaints about style of play especially nonsensical. As you hinted at, fans and media will act offended by defensive tactics even when an underdog needs to deploy those tactics to best compete. What do they want, a team that won't win by playing a wide open style to do that and lose 4-1 but entertain them? These teams are trying to win, not entertain. It's like with Portugal at Euro 2016. They were one of the most attacking teams during the group stage and posted among the highest shot total, expected goal and expected goal difference numbers of anyone in the group stage, but they were both unlucky (Hungary scored two long-range goals off deflections) and not clinical enough near the goal, so they drew all three matches. Because of that, Fernando Santos strengthened the midfield defensively and replaced two defenders (Jose Fonte for past-his-prime Ricardo Carvalho and the more defensively sound Cedric for the more attacking Vieirinha) for the knockouts. It worked, Portugal kept progressing ... but TV pundits complained about it as if Portugal owed them a more attacking/entertaining style of play even though that style of play failed three matches straight during the group stage. It's a tournament, the point is to win/progress, not to entertain the average fan. People made fun of Portugal for drawing all three group matches in 2016 and complained about them still making the knockouts ... but then complained even more when they successfully changed tactics after recognizing their group stage shortcomings.
Yes they were. They won their group at group phase, where one of the top favourites before this WC started was in (Belgium), leaving no doubts that they were the best in it. Also in it, got a draw against the same croatian team, that now happens to be in the semi's, after they defeated the top favourite of all to win this WC. They currently don't need to develop as a team. Right now, they already achieved that. At present times, they are a reality on their own right, that other teams have to deal with when facing them. Till now, they have excelled up to their own strength and been pretty good at it. Morocco has a pretty good chance to upset more than one in their next quarters match up, to become the first african team to ever reach the semi's in WC history. You probably may not like it, but that's only your opinion.
Bono Hakimi Elyamiq Saiss Atiat-allah Amrabat Ounahi Amallah Ziyech En enseryi Boufal Aguerd & Mazraoui are out because of injury