2022 World Cup Quarterfinals: Morocco vs. Portugal Preview, Odds, Prediction

So it’s Morocco and Portugal in the quarterfinals, another regional derby. Just a few expected to see the Moroccans making a surprise against Spain in the Round of 16, yet that happened. It is the first big sensation of the knockout stage and the second overall in Qatar following Argentina’s loss to Saudi Arabia. Portugal, on the other side, displayed one of the best performances one team delivered in the tournament. Their morale is at the highest possible level, and comes into this battle with massive confidence.

Preview

Morocco (+500) had its moment of glory in the group stage, beating two rivals, and after that, once more in the knockout stage. They hit one of the best teams in the world, Spain, going toe-to-toe with them and coming in nothing short of a magnificent performance.

Their goalkeeper Bono was the man of the match, denying three penalties during the shootout and a few mild chances during the regulations and overtime. Morocco was playing very tough football, with a rigid block in front of the box, yet they were pretty dangerous on a counter-attack, creating problems for Spain’s defense.

The best part of Morocco’s team is defense, even though Hakimi and Ziyech are the top two stars. This was the 11th consecutive matchup for Morocco without a loss, and during that streak, they had eight clean sheets. Enough said.

Portugal (-115) was perfect against Switzerland. That’s the best and the only way of describing how European Selecao dismantled this rival. A 6-1 win was more than anyone expected, and when we add that Ronaldo didn’t play until the finish, then everything is clear.

Though, Ronaldo did slow down the team in the final third of the field and presented a burden for this unit because they didn’t get used to playing like that in their clubs. We mentioned before that CR wasn’t the leading guy on the team anymore, and the recent developments proved we were right.

Portugal scored 12 goals so far and were highly impressive in their competitive performance. We say competitive because the game against South Korea wasn’t one.

Latest News

There aren’t any suspended players in the Moroccan team, and for the moment, there isn’t any news regarding injuries.

On the other side, Portugal is coming with all the players available and healthy. Ronaldo is expected to stay on the bench again because Gomes scored a hat-trick today, meaning he’s in perfect form.

Head to Head Games

This will be the third meeting in the World Cup between Morocco and Portugal. The first was in 1986 when Morocco made a surprise by beating the rivals 3-1, while four years ago, Selecao had its revenge, winning 1-0, and eventually eliminating this crew.

Prediction

Portugal knows to play against teams that always defend and slow down the game because they are perfectly fine with low-intensity contests. Fernando Santos is the mastermind for such situations and game plans, and after today’s display, we see that Portugal has every recourse needed to take down the African unit. With Ronaldo out of the picture, the rivals don’t know how to set up the tactics.

Pick: Portugal -115

 

• Check out for our other World Cup quarterfinals previews:
  • Netherlands vs. Argentina
  • England vs. France
  • Croatia vs. Brazil