Croatia fell properly wanting expectations as they produced an unimaginative efficiency in a 0-0 draw by Morocco of their World Cup Group F opener on Wednesday.
Zlatko Dalic’s males – the runners-up 4 years in the past – have been robust favourites at Al Bayt Stadium however crafted few alternatives of be aware, the stalemate handing the early initiative to Belgium forward of their conflict with Canada.
Within the stands, Croatia have been so outnumbered they basically resembled an away workforce, however Morocco’s superior backing didn’t translate in to on-pitch dominance and have been fortunate to nonetheless be stage on the break after Nikola Vlasic went shut.
Dejan Lovren noticed one other affordable probability go begging early within the second half, however in any other case Croatia didn’t reap the benefits of their significantly larger share of possession.
Initially Croatia struggled to deal with the depth of Morocco’s urgent, however the Atlas Lions didn’t possess the standard to transform their bluster into significant probabilities.
Neither aspect had an excessive amount of pleasure in that regard.
Nevertheless, on the stroke of half-time Morocco have been grateful for the intervention of goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who crucially blocked Vlasic’s prodded effort from point-blank vary after Borna Sosa handed into the hazard zone.
That proved a teaser of the improved motion to observe early within the second half.
It started with Dominik Livakovic maintaining out a Noussair Mazraoui header, and some minutes later Sofyan Amrabat made a significant block to cease Lovren choosing out the bottom-left nook.
In the long run, Morocco’s deep defence in the end received the higher of Croatia’s blunt assault as they held on to a commendable level.
Morocco and Croatia share the factors. @adidasfootball | #FIFAWorldCup
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 23, 2022
What does it imply? Toothless Croatia give Belgium the higher hand
Croatia have been actually disappointing right here, however a minimum of they weren’t on the tip of a shock defeat.
In any case, when Croatia lose their opening sport at a World Cup, issues have a tendency to not go properly: they misplaced on matchday one in three of their 5 earlier World Cup appearances, with the exceptions being 1998 and 2018, after they reached the semi-finals and ultimate, respectively.
However, Croatia are in a gaggle that at all times had the potential to be tight. They are going to have needed to keep away from giving possible qualification rivals Belgium any assist, however of their toothlessness right here, Roberto Martinez’s males have already got the higher hand.
Hakimi reveals his class
In reality, this was a match desperately quick on high quality. Nevertheless, Achraf Hakimi did stand out for his work fee and solidity, profitable all three of his sort out makes an attempt, producing a team-high three interceptions and popping out on prime in 10 of his 16 duel involvements – each have been match highs. Ivan Perisic was very, very quiet because of this.
Modric unable to encourage creativity
Just one Croatia participant managed to file a key move, and that was Sosa. It highlighted simply how missing they have been within the artistic division. Luka Modric noticed loads of the ball however that didn’t result in an awesome deal – he was mystifyingly given the Participant of the Match award.
Key Opta Information
– Croatia failed to attain for the primary time in 12 World Cup matches, since what was their solely different goalless draw within the competitors towards Japan in 2006.
– Morocco have failed to attain in 53 per cent of their World Cup matches (9/17), the joint-highest proportion of any nation to have performed in additional than 10 video games within the competitors.
– Three of the final 4 video games on the World Cup have completed 0-0, extra goalless attracts than there have been within the earlier 73 matches within the competitors mixed (2).
– At 45 minutes and 12 seconds, Nikola Vlasic’s saved try for Croatia was the newest first shot on the right track in a match on the 2022 World Cup thus far.
What’s subsequent?
Morocco face group favourites Belgium on Sunday, whereas Croatia tackle Canada.