Kind of. I have Tunisia coming in 2nd but screwing things up and getting upset in the Round of 16. Tunisia are historically always underperforming in Sub Saharian AFCONs.
Yepp, when i looked at your prediction i noticed the team that win group f probably gonna face Ivory Coast or maybe Algeria (probably not) and coming 2nd Zimbabwe or Guinea.
I say only this before the tournament kicks off. If Egypt tops their group they land in the same bracket as Senegal. They could potentially then meet in the semi-finals. That I would regard as very bad news for Senegal. Egypt has a habbit of winning semi-finals. They won all their last six AFCON semi-finals which is insane. I give Egypt an outside shot to win the tournament if they finish first in their group. If they don't then it's game over in the Round of 16 like I predicted. That all considered makes Nigeria - Egypt on matchday one an absolute cracker of a game Because it will be decisisive for who tops the group.
Cameroon 2 Burkina Faso 1 Great atmosphere and it felt like a knockout stage game. 2 penalties for Cameroon. 2nd one was a clear foul but well AFTER the forward had already played the ball. IMO a yellow card but not a penalty. Good start.
Cameroon did more and deserved to win but Burkina Faso put up a good fight. If they were less clumsy and reckless in the penalty box they could have taken out something of this.
Morocco vs Ghana : This version of Morocco is quite different from the past, Vahid Halilhodzic changed our style of play from beautiful possession football to fast attacking football ( which he has been criticized for a lot), but it kinda helped us solve our scoring problems, 4-4-2 Diamond is the main tactic sometimes switching to 3-5-2, both worked well for us , still no single defeat with very solid defense. Unfortunately our two attackers suffering health problems : El kaabi (covid) Ryan Mmae (injury) both combined scored 10 goals in WCQ group stages , and since Ensyeri is injured too , we don't have any striker left for the game. Ghana with full squad no covid cases no injuries really good for them , i expect their starting lineup to be 80% different from last friendly against Algeria .
Guinea - Malawi and Morocco - Ghana will be played at the same time. Stupid schedule. I will watch the latter. Zimbabwe gave a good accounting of itself in the first half against Senegal.
Senegal snatch it with a last second penalty 1-0. They played great for the first quarter of the match creating many chances but failed to score. As the match moved on Zimbabwe got more confident, didn't create much but defended well. Now one of the biggest matches of the first round, Morocco v Ghana. I can see why many fans do not like Halihodzic. The guy has dropped many players and always choses wierd formations and starting lineups. I think Ghana will show up today. Morocco might dissapoint, but I think a draw is most likely.
Morocco beat Ghana 1-0. Morocco got maybe the best back line in this tournament. Saiss and Aguerd form a rock solid center back partnership. Hakimi is world class anyway. Bonou is a good and reliable goalkeeper. This team will go far. Upfront there is potential to play better with players returning in the next games. You can feel the lack the creativity. I think Morocco will get away with that in this tournament. But if they qualify for Qatar and want to go on a run there they need Ziyech at any cost. For Ghana they miss Kudus. If he's not comimg by the Round of 16 they will struggle to survive that round.
I think we can do better late in this tournament ,i didn't expect Amrabat and Chair to miss this game too , we had like 5 important missing players overall, and no preparation games , Ghana is solid side their line up today is much different against Algeria. Tough win i can honestly say we got lucky with that goal .
OK, but not even on the bench. I don't know these two players but I saw BENOUN last year in Qatar at the Arab Cup and for me is a top player
So far none of these teams, except in some ways a nonetheless very disappointing Senegal (stylistically and tactically, are similar to of Iran under our current coach, Skocic), are the kind sides I like to see at the World Cup. Sure, kudos to Morocco beating Ghana, but this isn't the version of Morocco I liked under Renard. I even liked their recent Arab Cup B team more. If i recall correctly, Vahid Halilhodzic was let go by Japan despite qualifying them to WC18. Maybe that is something Morocco may wish to consider as well.
For the most part, I agree. Except, (a) Senegal should have done better with their chance to get credit for playing "great" in the first quarter. While give some of the credit to Zimbabwe's goalie (e.g., saving Mane's one-on-one shot) , Bouna Sarr in particular bungled some great chances for Senegal throughout the match. (b) there was 15-20 minute spell in particular, where Zimbabwe had a lot of shots, but moments where I felt they might even score.
I hope you do much better and look a lot more impressive than your side showed against Ghana. Sure, Ghana is a solid enough side and Morocco beat them fair and square. But there is a big gulf between this version of Morocco and the one I felt might even rank among the top 15 sides in the world.
Vahid Halilhodzic doesn´t stand for beautiful football. It´s all about discipline and he choses a more conservative approach. He´s a results guy. Let´s not forget that he leaded Algeria out of the group in Brazil and pushed eventual champions Germany to extra time. He´s not a class manager but he isn´t bad either. For now he does the job for Morocco.
I know about him, his resume (of course WC14 with Algeria) and results with Morocco. But I don't think he is going to get Morocco to the level I believe they can achieve with their talent and a friendly venue like Qatar 2022. In theory, Morocco IMO can make a deep run in Qatar. But not with Vahid Halilhodzic and not if they leave out so many of their best players.
I agree to the most part. He isn´t the manager who can maximise this team´s potential. Then you should set your sights on Algeria. They play a very European and attacking brand of football. They have the right mindset to succeed on the big stage. My problem with them for Qatar is that they are quite old of a team. They need to rejuvenate their squad. You can win an AFCON with an old squad. For the World Cup though you need a more energetic squad with some youth in t.
IMO, to be able to maximize on the benefits of home-field like advantage in a tournament, you need a side that (besides the technical talent), also has the combination of confidence, energy and conditioning, physical and technical prowess, to press vigorously and force the opponent to lose its composure and make a lot of errors. Algeria are a fine side, but I'm not sure they have all the ingredients to be as vigorous and capable as Morocco can be in theory. In fact, you went on to point to one of the concerns about Algeria, namely the age of their squad. And I could perhaps add a couple more to the list.
I would be interested to hear them. You know age plays a major role in modern football. You can´t deny it. Whoever does, is ignorant. Simple as that. I have some very good data showing that there is a correlation between the average age and performances at World Cups. The times of old squads doing well are past us. It could occasionally occur but young teams are in a much better position to do well. You need a good mix of youth and experience.