Morocco vs. Croatia: In the first match of Group F at the 2022 World Cup, Morocco and Croatia played to a scoreless draw.
As has been the case in a number of games in Qatar, neither team was able to take control of the game at the beginning.
Early on, Croatia had more of the ball, but Morocco looked more dangerous going forward, getting into good positions but not scoring.
But Ivan Perisic came closest to scoring first when he shot just over the bar from a long distance after 17 minutes.
Then, until the very end of the first half, not much of note happened. Nikola Vlasic got on the end of a Borna Sosa cross, but Bono saved his shot. Then, Luka Modric hit the ball just over the bar after it fell to him on the edge of the box.
There were only two minutes of stoppage time, which says a lot about how quiet the first 45 minutes were since most games have a lot more.
In the first half of the second half, Morocco had their first real chance of the game when Noussair Mazraoui had a diving header saved by Dominik Livakovic from close range. Morocco also had a penalty appeal turned down when they thought a shot by Sofiane Boufal had been blocked by an arm.
Then, in the 51st minute, Bono blocked Modric’s dangerous shot across the face of the goal from going into the goal.
At that point, it looked like the game would get going, but it didn’t. There wasn’t much going on at either end until the 64th minute when Hakim Ziyech set up Achraf Hakimi for a long shot that Livakovic blocked.
After that, Croatia took the lead, and most of the game was played in Morocco’s half, but the 2018 runner-ups had trouble finding a way through.
In the last few minutes, Morocco took back some control, but even with six minutes of extra time, neither team was able to make a single chance.
Both teams probably deserved a point from their first games, but that was all they got.
1. Morocco (4-3-3)
GK: Bono – 7/10 – Made two great saves against Vlasic and Modric, and he did a good job of getting crosses.
RB: Achraf Hakimi – 6/10 – Came close and worked hard, but couldn’t do much more as the game went on. He didn’t do much wrong on defence.
Nayef Aguerd – 6/10 – Didn’t have much to do, but when he did, he did a good job.
Romain Saiss, CB: 6/10 – See above. This game doesn’t have much.
Noussair Mazraoui, LB, 6/10: Did a good job on defense and got into some good positions going forward before getting hurt and having to leave the game.
Azzedine Ounahi got a 6/10 from the CM because he made a few good passes and tackles and won most of his duels.
Sofyan Amrabat, the central midfielder, got a 7/10. He was in charge for most of the game and made an important clearance.
CM: Selim Amallah got a 5/10 because he won the ball back a few times but didn’t do much with it when he had it.
Hakim Ziyech, the right winger, got a 5/10 because he started off well and put in some very dangerous balls, but he didn’t do anything in the second half.
Youssef En-Nesyri gets a 5/10. Did pretty well in the air against the center-backs of Croatia, but not much else.
LW: Sofiane Boufal is a 4/10. Wasn’t seen much when he was on the field.
SUB: Yahia Attiyat Allah (60′ for Mazraoui) – 5/10
SUB: Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (66′ for Boufal) – N/A
SUB: Abderrazak Hamdallah (81′ for En-Nesryi) – N/A
SUB: Abdelhamid Sabiri (81′ for Ounahi) – N/A
Manager: Walid Regragui – 7/10 – Set up his team to counter Croatia’s threats and get a good point that could have been three on a different day.
2. Croatia (4-3-3)
GK: Dominik Livakovic – 6/10 – Was supposed to make those two saves, but he did them anyway.
RB: Josip Juranovic (6/10): Did fine at the back, but didn’t do much at the other end.
CB: Dejan Lovren (6/10): At the back, he looked steady.
CB: Josko Gvardiol – 7/10 – Was good at defense and did some good things when he had the ball.
Borna Sosa, the left back, got a 6/10. He made the best chance of the game with a good cross, but he didn’t do much else.
CM: Luka Modric – 5/10 – The Real Madrid player had a bad game by his standards. He missed a big chance and lost the ball a lot. Still, his set pieces were good.
CM: Marcelo Brozovic got things going well and kept his backline safe.
CM: Mateo Kovacic – 5/10 – Was always on the ball, but didn’t do much with it.
Nikola Vlasic, the right winger, got a 4/10 because he didn’t do much in the 45 minutes he was on the field and missed a big chance.
CF: Andrej Kramaric got a 4/10 because he didn’t do much. He didn’t take any shots and only passed the ball 11 times.
Ivan Perisic: 5/10 (LW) Good effort and hard work got them close, but they would have liked to do more in the future.
Mario Pasalic came on for Vlasic in the 45th minute. Not even sure he was playing.
SUB: Marko Livaja (71′ for Kramaric) – N/A
SUB: Lovro Majer (79′ for Kovacic) – N/A
Mislav Orsic came in for Perisic in the 90th minute.
Manager: Zlatko Dalic – 4/10 – Given how good his team was, he really should have found a way to beat Morocco.
Sofyan Amrabat was the best player in the game.
