Morocco

Morocco won all six of its group qualifying games, which were all played at home, and then beat DR Congo in the play-offs.

But the team’s performance at the AFCON finals in January was terrible, and fans have been very vocal about how they don’t like coach Vahid Halilhodzic, especially because Hakim Ziyech wasn’t there.

TACTICS

Morocco has a lot of players that are skilled technically and prefer to play on the front foot. They rely on the speed of their wide players and have a lot of skill in the middle of the field. Achraf Hakimi is in good form, and now Noussair Mazraoui has returned to the team as well.

The fact that Halilhodzic qualified two teams for the World Cup but did not accompany either of them to the competition gives him the dubious distinction. Ivory Coast fired him before the finals of the 2010 Cup of Nations because the team did so poorly, and Japan did the same before the finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

READY TO SHINE

Achraf Hakimi

To this point, Ziyech has refused to sit down and work out his dispute with the coach. However, doing so would appeal to his ego just as it did prior to the 2018 finals, when he had a similar dispute with Herve Renard and the two made up, allowing Ziyech to play in Russia, albeit without making any significant contributions. Discussions are still going on behind the scenes and taking up much of the agenda time.

If he does not come back to the team, then it will be Achraf Hakimi’s turn. Hakimi is widely regarded as being among the best right-backs in the world.