Morocco vs Portugal: Morocco seeking to make history

Morocco will be looking to make history when they face Portugal in the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday. The Atlas Lions are into the quarter-finals for the first time in national history, and join three other African sides – Cameroon, Senegal, and Ghana – to achieve this feat. Should they beat Portugal, Walid Regragui’s side will become the first African nation to successfully book a spot in the semi-finals, but for now, the North African nation will be firmly focused on getting the better of the EURO 2016 winners in what will be their third World Cup meeting.

Back in 1986, Morocco and Portugal met for the first time, and it was the Atlas Lions to win, 3-1. They renewed acquaintances at the 2018 World Cup, during which Portugal earned a narrow 1-0 lead. Morocco come into this match having already dispatched two European sides. First was a well-deserved 2-0 win over Belgium that ultimately ended up dumping them out of the competition, followed by showing great grit and determination to edge out Spain during a tense penalty shoot-out.

Indeed, despite their win over Belgium, many expected the North Africans’ journey to end at this juncture. That’s in spite of Spain being less than impressive in their final two group stage games, during which they drew Germany and shockingly lost to Japan. Was the writing on the wall for Luis Enrique’s side, who, instead of growing in form, were experiencing a rapid decline?

Perhaps. And now, Morocco will aim to end African teams’ frustrations at World Cups, especially when it comes to the knockout rounds. To date, there have been 11 games featuring African and European sides, and not surprisingly, European sides have won nine of them. The two exceptions? Senegal earning a deserved 2-1 victory in extra time over Sweden in the round of 16, and most recently, Morocco’s defeat of Spain in the aforementioned penalty shootout during this year’s round of 16.

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Currently on a five game unbeaten run (two wins, three draws) at the World Cup, Regragui has been responsible for four of those results and will become the first African manager to be in charge of a team during the quarter-finals of a World Cup on Saturday. However, while there is a lot of excitement about Morocco’s prospects, both from fans and neutrals eager to see a new Cinderella story emerge at this competition, they will be taking on a Portugal side who made a real statement of intent during their round of 16 tie against Switzerland.

Fernando Santos’s side ended up losing their final group stage game, quite akin to Spain, France, and Brazil, but like France and Brazil, had already qualified for the round of 16, making their 2-1 defeat to South Korea merely academic. Santos then took a huge gamble by surprisingly leaving Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench for the team’s match against Switzerland, and it paid dividends in spades. That match saw the emergence of 21-year-old Benfica striker Goncalo Ramos, who made history by netting a hat-trick for Portugal as the team cruised to a 6-1 win over a Swiss side that were no match from the very outset. Ramos is the first player to score a hat-trick on his debut since Germany’s Miroslav Klose did so back in 2002.

Ramos is expected to make a major case to feature in the starting XI for this game, while AC Milan’s Rafael Leao is another that will hope to feature from the start after scoring Portugal’s sixth goal from the bench. Of course, Santos will need to decide how he manages Ronaldo, who cut a very frustrated figure on the bench and was frustrated not to score during the rout of Switzerland; the 37-year-old is still seeking what would be his first World Cup goal in the knockout rounds.

Portugal are making their third quarter-finals appearance on Saturday; their prior two took place in 1966 and 2006. The last two times they reached and cleared this stage, they ended up finishing third (in 1966) and fourth (in 2006), and they will hope to go one step further this year in Qatar.

Of course, Morocco will have other ideas, and having already gotten this far, the Atlas Lions will be aiming to make history and roar into the semi-finals. Will they successfully add another chapter to their already thrilling story? Or will Portugal dash their hopes to book their spot in the semis for the first time in nearly 20 years?