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Morocco vs Spain, Round of 16, 3PM GMT, Education City Stadium


The_jagster
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Sound the Heartwork klaxon, for this is the Strait of Gibraltar derby. These two countries even share land borders thanks to Spain's own colonial past with three sections of Spanish land on the Moroccan coast.

Morocco.thumb.jpg.b4be179553e18b11ec270d005f761f7b.jpg

Spain.thumb.jpg.3999f8a02d3019d6fa0d479c82d69e2e.jpg

Edit: oh Spain do the stupid thing of a video line-up rather than a picture

How did they get here:

Morocco: Won their qualifying group ahead of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sudan, then a playoff against DR Congo. Won their group, beating Canada and Belgium while drawing with Canada.

Spain: Won their qualifying group containing Greece and Sweden, but only beat Costa Rica before drawing with Germany and losing to Japan.

Last 16 regulars?

Morocco: One previous appearance in 1986, losing to Germany 1-0. This tournament they have already equalled their number of wins across all previous World Cups combined with sparse appearances.

Spain: 8 previous ties, most of which have resulted in victories. Their last one was a penalty loss to Russia, they beat Portugal 1-0 in 2010 and lost 3-1 to France in 2006.

Previous meetings?

Yes! 2-2 in the last 2018 group stage match, with Iago Aspas equalising late on for Spain.

They have even contested a World Cup knockout stage of sorts in a playoff for Chile 62. In the Africa-Europe clashes Spain won matches 3-2 and 1-0 to progress to the finals, Alfredo Di Stefano among the scorers.

 

Laura Woods hosts coverage of England before the match itself kicks off at 3.

Edited by The_jagster
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Morocco the last team standing from outside Europe and South America.

They've looked solid throughout this competition, and their defence can frustrate Spain, but I think this will be a step too far for them. Spain to win the Munir derby 2-1.

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Spain and fielding as many midfielders as possible, name a better duo.

If Enrique was in charge of Croatia, he'd play Gvardiol and 9 midfielders.

 

1 minute ago, CFuller said:

Morocco the last team standing from outside Europe and South America.

They've looked solid throughout this competition, and their defence can frustrate Spain, but I think this will be a step too far for them. Spain to win the Munir derby 2-1.

If we talk about football nationalities, Morocco is an European team for all intents and purposes.

Out of today's 11 starters, only 4 were ever members of a Moroccan football club.

Aguerd and Bono being the only two who have any senior football minutes played in Morocco.

 

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I've only seen Morocco against Belgium so difficult to judge how good they are, Belgium weren't good and they were a bit better. I don't see this match being an upset, but I don't know if Spain are always going to be dull or if the Japan game might give them a wake up call.

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22 minutes ago, The_jagster said:

Sound the Heartwork klaxon, for this is the Strait of Gibraltar derby. These two countries even share land borders thanks to Spain's own colonial past with three sections of Spanish land on the Moroccan coast.

There's only 2 Spanish exclaves that border Morocco; Cueta and Melilla

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Would be fun if Morocco wins. Only bad thing would be the riots in the Netherlands. Because when you win, some people think it is normal to wreck stuff and throw fireworks at people :(

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2 minutes ago, brez22 said:

I can't help but think people will think Bono is a bit of a rubbish keeper because of the name but he's a properly good goalkeeper from what i've seen.

Indeed. You could say Bono is good, especially if you know your Latin. :brock:

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5 minutes ago, EnterUsernameHere said:

It's just completely amateur for Hartson not to know that Ziyech is left footed.

Would be amateur about any player, but given it's a player who plays in clearly the only league he watches it's just absolutely baffling. 

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7 minutes ago, Pukey said:

Would be amateur about any player, but given it's a player who plays in clearly the only league he watches it's just absolutely baffling. 

Hartson is a regular pundit for the SPFL. I think he probably watches less of Ziyech/Chelsea/PL than you think. But it's still inexcusable. 

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If Spain are just going to play like this I'm happy to see them go home. Morocco have done the right thing, compete in midfield so that you might win it back in a promising position but they haven't looked that dangerous aside from set pieces. Ref seems to wave the Spanish dives away but give the Moroccan ones too.

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