Croatia, Morocco dominated Group F

Belgium could not impress during the World Cup, while Canada also performed below par

Morocco: Morocco appeared at the last World Cup but had a disappointing campaign, picking up just a single point, where they drew a game against Spain.

Before 2018, they last qualified for the World Cup finals back in 1998, where they advanced to the knockout stage and had a respectable outing.

This was the sixth World Cup campaign for the African team and they had a fairytale run, becoming the first African team to qualify for the semi-finals.

In the World Cup 2022, they were placed alongside strong opponents like Croatia, Belgium and Canada. Yet, they were able to achieve what many have not predicted.

In their opening game, they kept the runners-up of the last World Cup quiet and did not allow them to open their account, ending the contest in a goalless draw.

In the next game, they stunned a much-stronger Belgium side, where they clinched an emphatic win by 2-0, courtesy of Romain Saiss and Zakaria Aboukhlai in the 73 and 90+2 minutes of the game.

The next challenge was Canada, who had a brilliant game against Belgium in a losing cause. However, the Atlas Lions started attacking from the word go, scoring their first goal in just the fourth minute of the encounter and doubling the lead in the 23rd minute.

They did not give anything away to the Canadian side and the only goal they conceded in the game was an own goal from Nayef Aguerd.

With that win, they booked a spot in the Round of 16, where they had to face the World Cup 2010 champions Spain.

Morocco’s foolproof defence did not let the Spanish strikers get near their goal and it looked like they wanted to take the game as deep as possible.

All 120 minutes of the game did not witness a single goal and it was down to penalties to decide the quarter-finalist.

Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou proved to be a wall for the Spanish penalty-takers, blocking their two penalties, which took his team to the semi-finals.

Between the Atlas Lions and the final of the tournament, there were Kylian Mbappe and his fellow standing tall.

Though Morocco played like an A-lister, it did not prove to be enough for them to book a place in the final as they fell short against the reigning champions by 2-0.

Now, Moroccan had the bronze medal in sight and they had to get past Luka Modric’s men.

It was an action-packed contest, where Croatia drew the first blood when Josko Gvardiol scored a goal in just the seventh minute of the game. However, it took Achraf Dari just two minutes to score an equaliser.

The score line remained levelled till the 42nd minute of the contest before Mislav Orsic netted the ball to snatch the third position from the African side.

If there was one team that had inspired the whole world with their game and resilience, it was Morocco. They played outstanding football with a lot to promise for the future.

Grade: A

Croatia

Managed by Dalic since 2017, Croatia were another team with a stellar World Cup pedigree in recent years.

Croatia’s history as a footballing nation is brief; pre-1990, it was part of Yugoslavia along with a handful of other modern-day countries. Croatia’s first World Cup was in France in 1998 where they had an impressive campaign, finishing 3rd. Since then, the Croats have been in every single World Cup save 2010

They were only second to France in the previous World Cup in Russia and they were impressive in this year’s edition as well.

The major concern for the Checkered Ones is that their star players were at the twilight of their careers, including captain Modric.

This year, they kicked off their campaign with a disappointing draw against Morocco, which was followed by an emphatic win 4-1 against Canada.

In the next game, they were once again unable to net the ball, only managing to draw the contest against Belgium.

In their first three games, Croatia’s inability to score a goal was quite evident and probably why they switched their strategy to play more defensively and take the games as deep as they could.

In the Round of 16 match, they met Japan. The Asian team scored the first goal of the contest in the 43rd minute, but Ivan Perisic scored an equaliser in the 55th minute.

Afterwards, it was all about blocking the Japanese players from scoring, eventually taking the encounter to a penalty shootout.

Japan could not hold their nerves in the all-important game and Croatia made the most out of it, by registering a win 1-3 in the penalty shootout.

It was a mouthwatering game for football lovers when Croatia and tournament favourites Brazil came face to face in the quarter-finals.

All the odds were stacked against Croatia but they stuck to their strategy and took the game to the last moments.

Brazil’s Neymar only managed to score a goal in the 15+1 minute of extra time, which looked like it was all over for Croatia.

However, in the 117th minute of the game, Bruno Petkovic surprised the opposition with an equaliser.

Once again, Croatia got the better of the opposition in a penalty shootout, upsetting the most highly-rated team of the tournament to book a place in the last four.

However, despite their solid defence and glorious run in the event, they could not tame Lionel Messi’s Argentina who scored three goals in the match to convincingly confirm their spot in the final.

Meanwhile, Croatia won a consolation prize in the shape of the third position when they got the better of the wonder boys, Morocco, in the game by 2-1.

Grade: A-

Belgium 

Going into football’s greatest challenge – the FIFA World Cup in Qatar – Belgium were strong favourites to lift the cup with a side as good as their 2018 World Cup team. Due to its attacking prowess, Belgium easily won all eight of its group games in 2018 against Wales, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Belarus, going undefeated (W6, D2) with a respectable goal differential. Romelu Lukaku, the forward, led the way with five goals.

With their campaign set to start, the Belgian side relied much on Romelu Lukaku who manages the centre-forward position. The other players that Belgium were counting on were Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois with their defence gaining strength from Thomas Meunier.

With the Spaniard Robert Martinez managing the side alongside Thomas Vermaelen and the legendary Thierry Henry, The Belgium side looked formidable as Martinez has been part of the Belgian setup since 2016 and players were well familiar with their manager.

In their tournament opener against Canada, Martinez chose Michy Batshuayi to spearhead his offence in place of the injured Romelu Lukaku while Eden Hazard also started at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium. Both strategies were successful, as Batshuayi’s game-winning goal and Alfonso Davies’ early penalty attempt being stopped by Thibaut Courtois gave Martinez’s team a 1-0 victory.

In their second match, the Kevin De Bruyne-led team faced off Romain Saïss’ Morocco. Both teams had a slow start, although Belgium had a minor advantage in possession and was able to get off more shots. Hakim Ziyech of Morocco sent a free kick into the goal in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, but the goal was ruled out due to Romain Saiss’ being offside. Abdelhamid Sabiri’s perfect free kick gave Morocco a 1-0 lead in the 73rd minute as they made a comeback. Zakaria Aboukhlal also scored for Morocco in the last seconds of the game (90′ + 2) to give his side their first win in a World Cup match since 1998.

With just one victory and one goal in 3 games, Roberto Martinez’s team, which is ranked second in the world and finished third in Russia four years ago, had a poor campaign. Even though they were aware that a win against Croatia was required to advance to the round of 16, they put up another lacklustre performance against Luka Modric’s men to get eliminated from the mega-event. Substitute Romelu Lukaku had multiple opportunities to score in the second half, but he was unable to do so, dooming his nation. In an effort to recover from an injury, Lukaku hit the post from in front of the goal, missed the target with a well-placed shot, and took too long to react when the ball struck him in the six-yard box in stoppage time.

Grade: C+

Canada

The Atiba Hutchinson-led team went into the FIFA World Cup 2022 with not much hope and there wasn’t a lot expected of them from fans back home as well. This is because their only World Cup appearance before this edition was back in 1986 in Mexico where they finished last in the group and exited the tournament early after losing their first three games. However, the Canadians had an excellent qualifying campaign, winning their group and finishing ahead of countries like Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica. In the 14 games, they scored a respectable 23 goals while only conceding seven. Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies was just one shining star for Canada heading to Qatar. Jonathan David, a striker for Lille who scored five goals during qualification, led the lineup front for the Canadians. However, Canada’s defence needed to fire to succeed. Milan Borjan, their goalkeeper, provided a solid defensive experience to his team and had the potential to save the day for his team.

In their first game against group members Belgium, the John Herdman-managed side dominated the majority of the game but failed to score from crunch positions. The first major chance that Canada missed was off a penalty when Davies hit the ball straight into Courtois’ hands, as Canadian stood silent. Despite a performance that mocked their standing as second in the world, Canada kept up their offensive momentum in the second half, but Roberto Martinez’s team secured a 1-0 victory.

However, thousands of spectators inside Ahmad bin Ali Stadium cheered on Canada, supporting Herdman’s team with a loud and vibrant cheer. And even though Canada lost their opening match of the tournament, its supporters nevertheless gave their team a well-earned standing ovation at the end of a performance in which they completely failed to score the goal they greatly deserved.

In their second match against a well-put Croatia, Canada took an early lead with Davies scoring in the first few moments of the game.

However, Croatia equalized in the 36th minute with their striker Andrej Kramaric delivering the punch. Marko Livaja then gave the lead to Croatia by scoring in the 44th minute. From there on, Croatia dominated Canada till the end with another goal from Kramaric at 77’ and the fourth from Lovro Majer just minutes away from full-time. The game ended with a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Canada.

The last game for Canada was just a formality, having already been out of the race to the top. Hutchinson’s men faced Morocco in their third and final group game but were outplayed by a better Moroccan side who won 2-1. The only Canadian goal came from Nayef Aguerd who could just save his team from a goalless exit.

Grade: C+