Khalid Tawalbeh
Doha
The lone Arab team remaining in the competition, Morocco will give it everything when they take on Spain on Tuesday evening for a spot in the quarter finals of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Morocco qualified for the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup after they outplayed Canada 2-1 last Friday.
Spain coach Luis Enrique, while addressing the pre-match press conference on Monday, gave full credit to how the Moroccans have topped their group. He admitted that Spain have a difficult task in front of them.
“We feel good and we have the ability … I am satisfied with the preparations.We will continue to rely on our usual way of playing and will not change our mindset.”
The former Barcelona coach noted that he had asked his players before the World Cup to practice on penalties during their training sessions with their clubs, stressing that all possibilities are open in knockout matches.
Morocco coach Walid Regragui called on his team to believe they can defeat powerhouse Spain as they attempt to reach a first World Cup quarter-final.
The north African side are in the last 16 for only the second time after advancing as winners of Group F ahead of 2018 runners-up Croatia, having defeated Belgium and Canada.
“It will be a very testing game for us. We’re coming up against one of the best footballing nations in the world. I think they’re one of the favourites to reach the final,” Regragui said.
“That said, we’ve also got things up our sleeve. We’ve had one extra rest day compared to them and we’re going to try and pull a surprise out of the bag.”
Spain denied Morocco a famous win at the 2018 World Cup with a last-gasp equalizer in a 2-2 draw, the only point the Moroccans picked up in Russia.
Morocco, the lone Arab and the last African team remaining in the competition, will have the backing of thousands of fans for Tuesday’s game at the Education City Stadium.
“We’ll come out swinging. We want to hoist the Moroccan flag way up high,” said Regragui.
“All Arabs and Africans, we want to make them happy. We want their prayers and we want their support so it can give us that extra ingredient to win. Before it was just the Moroccans that supported us.”
Morocco would become just the fourth African team to reach the quarter-finals — after Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 — if they beat the 2010 champions.
Morocco’s only other appearance in the last 16 came in 1986, when they lost 1-0 to eventual runners-up West Germany.
“I don’t think we should go out with any sort of complex,” said Regragui.
“Yes, we’re not stronger, but we know what Spain are made of. We shouldn’t be worried, we should have no regrets and give the best of ourselves.”
Spain were eliminated from the 2018 World Cup in the last 16, but they have never suffered back-to-back exits at this point of the competition, and their tally of nine goals in the group stage was the joint-highest alongside England.
Morocco and Spain will be locking horns in the World Cup four years on from meeting in the group stages in Russia, where La Roja were indebted to a late Iago Aspas equaliser in a 2-2 draw, and a similarly close contest should be on the menu on Tuesday.