A look at the country’s demographics, football history and its squad status prior to the Qatar World Cup 2022.
Number of inhabitants: approx. 37 million.
Continent: Africa
Confederation: CAF
National Football Association: FMFA
Number of members: approx. 80.000 (0.2% of total population)
International trophies won: 1x Africa Cup, 2x African Nations Championship
Best World Cup result: Round of 16 in 1986.
Key Players
In the past: Ahmed Faras, Nourredine Naybet, Mbark Boussoufa, Youssouf Hadji.
Key current players: Mazraoui, Hakimi, Ziyech, En-Nesyri.
Coach, formation and possible lineup
Coach: Walid Regragui. (since 2022)
Typical formation: 4-3-3
Possible lineup:
- GK: Yassine “Bono” Bounou (Sevilla)
- LB: Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern)
- RB: Ashraf Hakimi (PSG)
- LCB: Romain Saïss (Besiktas)
- RCB: Achraf Dari (Stade Brestois)
- DM: Sofian Amrabat (Fiorentina)
- CM: Azzedine Ounahi (Angers)
- CM: Selim Amallah (Standard Liège)
- RW: Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea)
- LW: Sofiane Boufal (Angers)
- ST: Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla)
Age Report
Players aged 25 or under in the current lineup: 6
Players aged 32 or over in the current lineup: 1
There is 1 player in this lineup that will (most likely) be playing their last World Cup this year: Saïss.
There are 6 players in this lineup that can play at least two more: Mazraoui, Hakimi, Dari, Ounahi, Amallah and En-Nesyri.
The remaining 4 players could play in one or two more World Cups.
Youngest player: Azzedine Ounahi, born 19 April 2000 (22)
Oldest player: Romain Saïss, born 26 March 1990 (32)
Average squad age: 26.2
World Cup Qatar – Group F
Fixtures:
Wednesday 23 November Morocco vs Croatia
Sunday 27 November Belgium vs Morocco
Thursday 1 December Canada vs Morocco
Our view:
A relatively young team, Morocco, that performed exceptionally well in their qualification for the World Cup in Qatar. Sadly enough they lost a major asset in front of goal through the injury of Tarik Tissoudali. Even with Tarik present it would have been a tough battle, now it seems almost insurmountable. Almost, because Belgium is dependant on their stars, Croatia is transitioning to a new squad, and Canada does not have a lot of depth in their selection. So, while chances are slim, not all hope is lost for Morocco.
