Belgium narrowly beat Canada with a clean goal in the first match to take the lead, while Morocco and Croatia come in second and third places with one point each, with all possibilities open for qualification..
Strong clash
- The Belgium national team did not appear at its usual level against Canada, and its captain, Kevin De Bruyne, admitted that and promised the fans to return to the level they are known for in the next rounds, the first of which was against Morocco..
- Roberto Martinez, the current coach of the Belgium national team, is the owner of the great achievement that was achieved with his current team in the previous World Cup, by occupying third place behind France and Croatia..
- The Belgian national team has distinguished elements, most notably Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Inter Milan star who is recovering from his injury, hoping to participate soon in the World Cup, and Eden Hazard, Real Madrid player, Carrasco, Atletico Madrid player, and other stars..
- The Moroccan national team will have to outperform the European stars gathered in the Belgium national team in order to collect three points at their expense and ensure passage to the second round..
- What makes things more difficult for the Moroccan national team is that Martinez, the coach of Belgium, knows his opponent well, as he said in the pre-match press conference: “Morocco plays fiercely, has balance and tactical discipline, and has confidence in his ability to win.”“.
- Martinez raised the slogan of the challenge, saying: “Morocco has wonderful elements in all lines, so do we. It is about who succeeds in imposing his control on the meeting so that he has the upper hand.”“.
Arabic dream
- Morocco dreams of achieving a positive result that will help it qualify for the round of sixteen for the first time in its history, to be the third team in the history of the Arabs to achieve this achievement after Saudi Arabia 1994 and Algeria 2014..
- The Moroccan team has distinguished elements spread in European clubs, which can compete with adults, such as Yassin Bono, the goalkeeper of Seville and his colleague in the Spanish team, Youssef Al-Nusairi, Ashraf Hakimi, the back of Paris Germain, Hakim Ziyash, the winger of Chelsea and other stars..
- After Qatar officially left, and the position of Tunisia and Saudi Arabia became more complicated, Morocco became carrying the Arab flag to be the only one with joy in the second round in the group stage, which witnessed the loss of all Arab teams without exception..
- Walid Regragui, the coach of the Morocco national team, was defiant in his statements about the match, like Martinez, when he said: “The match cannot bear anything but victory for us.“.
- Regragui said that he and his team watched Belgium’s previous matches, the last of which was against Canada in the first round of the World Cup, pointing to his full knowledge of his opponent.
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