World Cup Qatar | Morocco vs Croatia - Nov 23 | 10:00 UTC

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Game info Morocco vs Croatia

 

With the Al Bayt stadium as the stage for the dispute, the teams from Morocco and Croatia open the agenda of four clashes this Wednesday, November 23, still in Qatar's opening round of the 2022 World Cup. The duel has a kickoff scheduled for 10:00 UTC.

 

How does the 2022 Qatar World Cup work?

 

The World Cup in Qatar will be the last to be played with 32 teams. As of the 2026 World Cup, shared by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the number of participants will jump to 4. Thus, it will be the last time the format with eight groups of four teams will be used. Teams play against each other in a single shift in this first phase.

 

The top two finishers in each bracket survive to the next stage. From then on, in a single elimination game, the finalists will be defined. In the case of equality, the extra time and penalty kicks can be used to describe who advances.

 

Morocco performance

In an atmosphere of peace, Morocco closed on Thursday, November 17, its preparation for the World Cup in Qatar. Coach Walid Regragui managed to seal the return of stars Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea, and Achraf Hakimi, from PSG. They had entered a collision course with his predecessor, the Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic.

 

Halilhodzic, who spent approximately three years in charge of the Moroccan national team, calmly led the team, at least on the field, throughout the African qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar. However, outside the four lines, the same did not happen. Relationship problems with influential athletes caused him to lose his job.

 

With Regragui, the turmoil ended. Against Georgia, which failed to qualify for the World Cup, Morocco won 3-0. This extended its undefeated streak to seven matches. The last defeat happened in the June 1 friendly against the United States. It won 3-0. At the time, it was still under the direction of Halihodzic. since then, it has reaped five wins and two draws.

 

Croatia performance

Runner-up at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Croatia had a friendly match against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh before their debut in the World Cup. On Wednesday, November 16, in his last stopover before heading to Qatar, he won by 1-0. However, without presenting a good performance.

 

He scored in the 37th minute of the finals through Kramaric, who had an assist from Modric. Only the second finish in a meeting produced seven chances to shoot. The Saudis, who had control of the ball 42% of the time, created 13 opportunities to fire. However, they hit the Croatian goal only once.

 

What raised the hopes of the Croatians in a good performance in the Qatar Cup was the good campaign carried out by the team in the 2022/2023 edition of the League of Nations of Europe. In the tournament, after reaching 13 points (four wins, one draw, and one defeat), he took first place in Group 1 of Liga A. Thus, he secured the right to dispute the title next year. The other semi-finalists are Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands.

 

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