World Cup CHECK| Morocco – comeback after a 20-year break

The big trump card of team boss Herve Renard's team is the defense, which is directed by Juventus player Medhi Benatia. He and his colleagues will have no shortage of work given the duels with the two big Group B favorites Spain and Portugal. In their first appearance on the World Cup stage after a long absence, Morocco will face Iran. Only a win counts in order to be able to leave one of the two major European football powers behind in the promotion race. A place in the round of 42 would be for the world number 1986. Not a premiere, it has only succeeded in four attempts so far in XNUMX in Mexico.

The Moroccans are trying to achieve success through a good defense. In the third and decisive World Cup qualifying round, they remained clean with three wins and three 0-0 draws in the six Group C games and finished ahead of favorites Ivory Coast, Gabon and Mali.

Benatia played a crucial role, he is the clear leader of the team and at 31 years old has already experienced a lot in his career. After a two-year spell at Bayern Munich marked by injuries, things didn't go well after his move to Juve in the summer of 2016. The strong-playing and fighting central defender has been largely scheduled for the “Old Lady” for around six months now and is therefore well prepared for the tournament.

However, when it comes to market value, Benatia is not number one on his team. Amine Harit, who is valued at 25 million euros by transfermarkt.at, has surpassed him. The 20-year-old offensive player plays regularly at Schalke 04. He was born in France and is one of many Moroccan players who largely completed their football training with European clubs.

This also includes players like Hakim Ziyech (25/Ajax Amsterdam) or Sofiane Boufal (24/Southampton). Achraf Hakimi fought his way into the first team squad at Spanish Champions League finalist Real Madrid from the youth ranks; the 19-year-old right-back is considered a great hope for the future.

He is coached in the national team by a 49-year-old Frenchman. Renard has been in charge of Morocco's team since February 2016 and is a sought-after man in Africa. He had previously coached the teams of Zambia (twice), Angola and Ivory Coast and worked as an assistant coach at Ghana. He can rightly be described as a successful coach: He was the first coach to achieve the feat of winning the African Cup with several teams (Zambia 2012, Ivory Coast 2015). Morocco is waiting for its second triumph at the continental tournament since 1976; in 2004 the North Africans came close as finalists.

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World Cup CHECK| Morocco – comeback after a 20-year break

A long dry spell is coming to an end for Morocco in Russia. After a 20-year break, the “Lions of Atlas” are making their World Cup comeback.

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