Morocco will be carrying all of Africa’s hopes of reaching the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarters when they face Spain in the penultimate R16 clash this evening.
The Atlas Lions finished first in Group F to set up a tie against La Roja, who qualified to the second round as Group E runners-up.
Competition: 2022 FIFA World Cup Round of 16.
Date, Kick-off Time & Venue: 6 December 2022, 5 pm CAT at Education City Stadium.
Morocco Team News:
The North African side will welcome back Sofyan Amrabat and Sofiane Boufal after being rested, while Achraf Hakimi seems to have recovered from his ankle issues and will also play.
Predicted Morocco XI: Bono; Hakimi, Aguerd, Saiss, Mazraoui; Amallah, Amrabat, Ounahi; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal.
Spain Team News:
Cesar Azpilicueta and Dani Olmo missed training after the defeat to Japan with knocks, as did David Raya, but are expected to be ft for Spain.
Predicted Spain XI: Simon; Carvajal, Rodri, Laporte, Alba; Gavi, Busquets, Pedri; Olmo, Morata, Torres.
What the coaches said:
Morocco’s Walid Regragui: “It will be a very testing game for us. We’re coming up against one of the best footballing nations in the world. I think they’re one of the favourites to reach the final. But we’ve also got things up our sleeve. We’ve had one extra rest day compared to them and we’re going to try and pull a surprise out of the bag.”
Spain’s Luis Enrique: “I am not concerned about the result. This might be cliche but I want to control the things I can as I coach, I want my team to play in a certain way.
“I want my players to forget about the result and concentrate on the way they play. I am convinced that we will play better than Morocco and be able to have a good result.”
Form – Morocco:
At World Cup: DWW
All competitions: WDWDWW
Form – Spain:
At World Cup: WDL
All competitions: LWWWDL
Head to head (h2h) Stats:
Morocco wins: 0
Draws: 1
Spain wins: 2
TV Info:
ZBC TV (Zimbabwe)
State broadcaster ZBC TV will bring a live coverage of selected games. Other matches will be shown as delayed.
SABC (South Africa)
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will broadcast the games live.
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will broadcast the games live.
SABC Sport Channel will be the primary broadcast platform for the live presentation of the matches, with SABC 1, SABC 2 and SABC 3 also carrying the games live simultaneously.
DStv SuperSport TV
(Entire Sub Saharan Africa).
