The Moroccan national team will be on a date to rewrite the history of Arab participation in the World Cup if they manage to reach the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, if they win at the expense of the Spaniards in a match that will bring them together today, Tuesday, in the 1/8 finals of the tournament, to to be the first Arab team to be honored precisely when it was the first Arab team to advance to the second round, the 1986 World Cup.
The size of the new achievement is not measured by the long waiting period of more than 36 years for the Lions of Atlas to copy what they did in Mexico during the Ramadan evenings that are still stuck in the minds of the living Arabs. through that epic, and some of them told it to subsequent generations, but moving on to the second round of the 2022 World Cup, it seemed different in content, form and taste.
The specificity of the content was Arabic in the World Cup, which was the first time held on Arab soil, so the Moroccan qualifier carried another package of messages that the Arab difference in the excellent organization and amazing development that the Arabs have is combined with a high-level competitive artistic presence. the presence was embodied in the huge presence of the public at the Al-Tumama Stadium, from which the Moroccan team was sent off in the second round before the joy spread around the world. Arab world.
As for the taste, its sweetness stemmed from the great right to reserve a seat at the price of the finale. The crossing was not a mere coincidence or luck. Rather, it was deserved by a group that talked about the possibility of his leadership before the World Cup was fantastic due to the presence of two teams of a very high level, the first of which was a Croatian who came to the competition in the summer, and according to the previous version, the second was a Belgian who took third place in Russia in 2018 and topped the IF rankings for two years in a row before dropping back to second place in the last ranking compiled before the World Cup with an ambitious young Canadian team with an exceptional generation and the result was also unique as it the first time that an Arab or even an African team advanced to the second round, topping their group without losing. As coach Walid Regraki said after qualifying and even before he knew the identity of his opponent in the final price round: “We have the right to dream.” a dream, but it was achieved with the determination of men and the dedication of heroes, and therefore the team surpassed the star Spaniard, who is a candidate for the title, this is also a dream..and it can come true.
The task is no doubt a difficult one, but the current version of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is full of lessons and lessons and we have Asian teams coming from deep in the unknown as Japan and South Korea are the most prominent examples of how they first conquered Spain itself in the group stage and advanced to the second round, while starting the competition with a deafening surprise, defeating the German team, which eventually forced the latter to leave the first round with tails of disappointment, as for the Korean team, believed in their chances, did not exceed a glimmer of hope before the match with Portugal , but did the impossible, achieved victory and advanced to the second round
The stunning results achieved by the Moroccan national team in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar were the result of a homogeneous system created by the national coach, who took over the task after the previous coach Wahid Halilhodzic left cracks. and cracks in the ranks, so that Rakraki was able to restore cohesion by investing in the group after recruiting individual players to achieve desired goals.
The numbers speak of superiority. In fact, the Moroccan national team did not score a single goal from rivals, because the only goal that goalkeeper Yacine Bono, the Spanish player of Sevilla, scored in three matches was friendly fire, which confirms the solid defense provided by the captain Roman Sayes, thanks to his experience in Wolverhampton, England, before moving to Besiktas, Turkey, along with his colleague Nayef Agrad, a West Ham United player, and in the backs, there are two high-profile stars, Ashraf Hakimi, a former Inter Milan player and Real Madrid, the current Paris Saint-Germain and rising star Nasir Mazraoui, Bayern player. German Munich, and defensive midfielder Sofiane Murabet, the Italian Fiorentina player, who is considered one of the stars of the group stage, plays a big role in general, cannot be ignored.
The Moroccan national team scored 4 goals, which confirms the value of an excellent attacking work in the presence of the English Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech, who returned after an absence due to the decisions of former manager Halilhodzic, and Youssef Al-Nusairi, the Spanish player of Sevilla, Sofiane Boufal, French the Angers player, and Abdelhamid Sabiri, the Italian Sampdoria player, showed remarkable performances.
The statistics tracked by the International Federation of Football Associations confirm that the Moroccan national team is among the best teams in the group stage, and in accordance with the method followed by coach Regraga, who does not rely so much on possession of the ball, but relies on scoring and attacking efficiency in transformations and the speed of achieving the goal by the opponent. According to these official statistics, Moroccan players scored three of the four goals scored, given that the Canadian goalkeeper scored a goal for Morocco with an incorrect pass to Hakim Ziyech. And the Moroccan national team completed 1061 passes, including 873 assists, and made 26 passes, including six assists, and made 26 attempts to score on goal in three matches, half (13) of which (13) were from inside the penalty area and the other half from outside the area, while there were 8 shots on goal. A direct goal, while the players made 45 errors, and won 43 free kicks and three corners.
The Moroccan national team stormed the last third of the field and received balls 11 times in the middle of the opponent’s court, and the last third stormed and received balls from the left side 24 times, and from the right side 27 times. the ball in the midfield zone 593 times, and they requested the ball in the attacking zone 546 times.
The total chances of receiving the ball were 1432 times, and the Moroccan team applied defensive pressure on the opponent 1075 times, and lost the ball under pressure 237 times, while the total number of successful attacking transformations reached 30 attempts.
On an individual statistic level, Hakim Ziyash was most notable after scoring a goal and another “half of the team’s goals” and he was the player who made the most attempts to score a total of 7 attempts and sent 13 crosses, the highest indicator, while he was the player who made the most requests for the ball in the attacking zone 192 times, He was the player who received the most ball between the midfield and the opposition defender 33 times. Ashraf Hakimi was the player who made the most passes to his teammates with a group of 143, and the player himself made the most penetration attempts with 64 attempts, including 46 successful attempts, which is also the highest number, while Sofiane Ambrath was the player who ran the most during the three matches as he covered a distance of 33.43km. While striker Yousef Al-Nusairi made the most quick offensive runs with a total of 222 runs, while player Salim Amlah was the one who applied the most defensive pressures with 151 attempts in total.