World Cup 2022: The Atlas Lions are One Step Away

Canada vs Morocco

One of the surprise packages of the World Cup is in action on Thursday, in a meeting with one of the few teams which have already packed their bags.

World Cup 2022: Canada vs Morocco is a fascinating bout between Les Rouges, who came to the competition with a reputation for attacking and free flowing football, and the Atlas Lions who have actually delivered, beating highly fancied Belgium last time out. Morocco have a clear route to the Round of 16 now, with four points in the bag, while Canada are yet to win a point and are on their way out.   

The pre-match Canada vs Morocco betting odds back a win for the Atlas Lions who have impressed with their fitness and organisation, having extended a run of clean sheets to six games. Against a side which has just scored its first ever World Cup goal Morocco will be difficult to break down. And, despite sitting in second place, alongside Croatia on four points and one ahead of Belgium, the African hopefuls will want to take matters into their own hands.

Canada looked good in their opener against Belgium but just fell short; but they fell apart in their match against Croatia and their journey has ended. Despite being repeatedly carved open by the Croats, les Rouges will not change the way they play and I suspect Morocco will be just too strong for them.

Talking Points

Classy Ziyech can lead Morocco to the Round of 16

Drawing with Croatia and then beating Belgium 2-0 has put Morocco in a great position to qualify for the Round of 16, and a win over Canada will almost certainly see them top the group. One player who is sure to feature heavily in the Canada vs Morocco highlights is Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech who was outstanding against Roberto Martinez’ team. Morocco coach Walid Regragui praised his skill and his attitude as the put in a man-of-the-match performance in a scintillating display. Adbelhamid Sabiri gave Morocco the lead which was doubled by Zakaria Aboukhal with a great finish after Ziyech had skinned his fullback and pulled the ball back.    

He will be Morocco’s main man again when they face Canada, alongside PSG’s Achraf Hakimi and Southampton midfielder Sofiane Boufal, while striker Youssef En Neysri will hope to make more of an impact than he has so far. Morocco have a fit and health squad to choose from and defensive midfielder Romain Saiss will have a big role to play to protect his back four and break up Canada attacks.  

Martinez’ Red Devils meet Croatia in their final game and will be desperate to win that one to get their tournament up and running, but Morocco will have their focus acutely targeted on Canada.  

Canada can still make history

Les Rouges came into this competition full of optimism and with no real expectations on their shoulders and, with exciting young players Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David in their squad; they set their stalls out to entertain. And they put in a spirited performance against a flat Belgium side where the outcome could have been so different had Davies not missed an early penalty, but they lost 1-0.

Les Rouges scored their first ever World Cup finals goal in the loss to Croatia and now they are seeking a first win. Head coach Jonathan Herdman was less than diplomatic in the aftermath of Canada’s defeat to Belgium, saying that he’d told his players that they belonged here and they would go on to f*!k Croatia!

Well that didn’t quite turn out as he hoped as the experienced Croats handed his team a 4-1 lesson and, predictably, the Croatian media had a field day. So it’s probably better if Herdman lets his players do the talking on the pitch. Davies is a class act and he will want to make up for his spot-kick miss against Belgium.    

History

Morocco have only encountered Canada once in their history, winning 4-0 and, with four wins and two draws from the last six games, the Atlas Lions are in much better form than Canada who have recorded two wins, one draw and three defeats.

In fact Morocco are unbeaten in eight games and have one of the best defensive records in the world.

Betting Tip

Canada are at SBOTOP odds of 3.40 to win this game and the draw is at 3.25, so we have two reasonably well matched nations. Morocco are higher in the FIFA World Rankings at 24^th while Canada are 38^th and they have a big prize in front of them, while Les Rouges just have pride to play for. 

A 1-0 Morocco win at odds of 6.20 will not be far away.

 

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