Morocco vs Croatia is next as Morocco face 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia on Wednesday morning in the opening match of Group F.
Match Details:
- Location: Al Kohr, Qatar
- Stadium: Al Bayt Stadium
- Date: Wednesday 23 November
- Kick-off Time: 3:30 PM IST
- Watch: Sports 18/HD, Jio Cinema App
Morocco vs Croatia: Match Preview:
Surprise 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia, led by Golden Ball winner Luka Modric, will look to storm the world yet again as they take on Morocco in Group F play.
Croatia pipped Argentina to the top of Group D, and then toppled Denmark, Russia, and England to reach the 2018 final.
This year, they’ll look to begin a new journey against a Morocco side that slumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the quarterfinals back in February.
Still, the Atlas Lions passed a number of their pre-World Cup tests. Morocco took care of Georgia and Chile in pre-World Cup friendlies, plus a draw with Paraguay and defeat to the United States in the tournament run-up.
Team News:
Morocco:
The luckless Amine Harit sprained his cruciate ligament in Marseille’s final league match before the international hiatus. Ironically, the Monaco player that committed the foul, Axel Disasi, was a late addition to France’s World Cup squad after injury opened an extra slot in Didier Deschamps’ squad.
Burnley’s Anass Zaroury has replaced Harit in Morocco’s setup.
Selim Amallah hasn’t featured for Standard Liege since September but was still called up Walid Regragui. The Barcelona loanee Ez Abde has also been nursing a muscular complaint which leaves his involvement in the opener uncertain.
Croatia:
Croatia emerged unscathed from their final pre-World Cup friendly with Saudi Arabia. Marko Livaja and Kristijan Jakic were the only members of the 26-man squad that didn’t feature in Riyadh – though neither are thought to be injury doubts.
Morocco vs Croatia: Head to Head:
The two teams will be meeting for just the second time. This will be the first meeting of these two sides in an official game, as their only previous encounter took place in the Hassan II Trophy, a friendly tournament in 1996.
The game ended 2-2 in regular time and had to be decided on penalties. Croatia came out on top in the shootout, securing a 7-6 win.
Predicted Line-ups:
Morocco Starting 11 (4-3-3): Bounou; Hakimi, Aguerd, Saiss, Mazraoui; Amallah, Amrabat, Ounahi; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal.
Bench: Mohamedi, Tagnaouti, El Yamiq, Dari, Benoun, Attiyat Allah, Zaroury, Chair, Aboukhlal, El Khannous, Jabrane, Hamdallah, Sabiri, Abde, Cheddira.
Croatia Starting 11 (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Sosa; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Vlasic, Kramaric, Perisic.
Bench: Grbic, Ivusic, Stanisic, Barisic, Erlic, Lovren, Vida, Majer, Pasalic, Sucic, Jakic, Livaja, Petkovic, Budimir, Orsic.
MOR vs CRO: Dream11 Predictions:
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