Overview

Croatia’s World Cup Group F opening against the Atlas Lions will serve as an excellent barometer for their potential at the tournament. Croatia lost their opening game in three of its five World Cup appearances and were eliminated from the tournament whenever they lost the opening match. Whenever they didn’t lose the opening match, Croatia reached the semi-finals.

After sweeping through their own qualification campaign, Morocco will feel as though they can ruffle some feathers. They won every game they played in the second round of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) section, scoring 20 goals and conceding just one. Then, they destroyed the Democratic Republic of the Congo 5-2 overall in the third and final qualifying round, becoming the only team to advance with a victory margin of more than one goal.

Teams

Croatia

When Croatia take on Morocco in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup, midfielder Luka Modric will hope to add a new chapter to Croatia’s World Cup legacy. As the tournament’s best player, Modric accepted the Golden Ball trophy in Russia. Mateo Kovacic, a midfielder for Chelsea, has recently struggled with a knee injury and is now available, leaving Croatia with no new injury concerns.

Morocco

Morocco have won matches against countries like South Africa, Chile and Georgia. In September, the team ranked 22nd in the FIFA World Rankings drew 0-0 with Paraguay. Walid Regragui, the squad’s head coach, will be happy with where his team is headed. With Sofyan Amrabat set to return to the midfield, some adjustments are anticipated. Just three months after Walid Regragui took over as Morocco’s head coach in place of Vahid Halilhodzic, he called up Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech to the national team.

Head-to-Head

Morocco and Croatia have played against each other only once, in 1996. A penalty shootout was used to determine the winner of this semi-final game at the first edition of the Hassan II Trophy after the match was tied 2-2 at the half. The Croatians prevailed over their hosts 7-6 in the shootout to become the first tournament winners after defeating the second-place Czech Republic in the final.

Key Players

Although Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi will likely receive most of the attention, Youssef En-Nesyri will be mostly responsible for scoring goals for Morocco. Veteran player Luka Modrić is likely to play a key role for Croatia while, over the past four years, Marcelo Brozovi has distinguished himself as one of Europe’s top deep-lying playmakers.

Date, Time & Venue

The Morocco vs Croatia match will be played on November 23 at 3:30 PM (Indian time) in Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor.

Live-streaming details

The Morocco vs Croatia match will be broadcast live on the Sports18 and Sports18 HD TV channels in India and Jio Cinema’s app and website will both offer free live streaming of the event.

Prediction

While Morocco are poised to show up with their best of abilities, Croatia have a lot of class all around the field. Modrić and the boys should win it comfortably 3-0.