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You are here: Home / Sports / World Cup Quarterfinals Morning Open Thread: Morocco vs Portugal

World Cup Quarterfinals Morning Open Thread: Morocco vs Portugal

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Will the fairytale continue? We find out tomorrow. 🇲🇦🇵🇹

CNN:

Morocco already caused the upset of the round of 16 when it beat Spain on penalties to make it to the quarterfinals for the first time in its history, but the North Africans will have to replicate their heroics if they want to get past a reinvigorated Portugal…

“Before it was just the Moroccans who supported us, now it is the Africans and Arabs,” Morocco manager Walid Regragui said about his team’s journey.

The Moroccans have become the darlings of the World Cup. At the first “Arab” World Cup, they became the first Arab nation to qualify for the quarterfinals of the World Cup and, as the first African side to qualify for the quarterfinals in over a decade, they represent so much more than just their own nation.

But this has not been the heroic performance of an underdog riding its luck.

The Moroccans have the meanest defense at the competition, conceding only a single own goal so far. Despite having the most difficult run to the last eight of any of the quarterfinalists – playing fellow quarterfinalist Croatia, Belgium and 2010 World Cup champion Spain along the way – only Argentina has conceded less shots than the Atlas Lions…

The last time the two teams met was in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup in a frenetic game which Ronaldo settled with the only goal of the contest.

No team has scored more than Portugal’s 12 at the World Cup, but will the unstoppable Portugal be able to beat the immovable Morocco? …

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    JML

    Morocco still living the dream. Portugal looking a bit desperate, but they only need one.

    Morocco playing so smart, so organized.

  3. 3.

    cope

    Thanks for opening this safe space, AL.

    To me, the thing about Morocco is their confidence on the ball, they’re don’t usually just kick it away the way underdogs usually do when protecting a lead.

  22. 22.

    YY_Sima Qian

    All in all, a very fluid & entertaining match, w/ aggressive play from both sides. Portugal certainly had chances. The Morocco team is such a revelation!

  24. 24.

    VeniceRiley

    Riveted. Congrats to Morocco. What a match! Sad to see how 3 Man City teammates were defeated. But rusult fair. Morocco played as a team and with a passion.

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    @Alison Rose: I don’t have a favorite team in the next game but I definitely have a favorite player. Mbappé. He is just so much fun to watch. Amazing.

    Here’s hoping that the thread gets posted on time.

  29. 29.

    Alison Rose

    @Scout211: Yeah, that’s where my dilemma comes in. Mbappé is fucking amazing and I love watching him play…but as someone who has followed the Premier League for so long and because I have a few friends in England, part of me also wants to root for them. Gonna be an interesting match, for sure!

  32. 32.

    Alison Rose

    @Anyway: Fucking not me, LOL. I had Argentina v Brazil and France v Spain in the semis in my bracket. So I guess I’d like to see France win today also because that would at least make me 50% right.

  33. 33.

    lowtechcyclist

    So sick and tired of the pouring rain, I took a train to Morocco just to kill the pain
    Oh, it might help a little, it might help a lot, I don’t know, but it’s all I got
    –Moon Taxi

  34. 34.

    Trincha

    Question:  Why didn’t Portugal start Cristiano Ronaldo?

    Response:  They put him in with 40 minutes to go.  What did he do for them in those 40 minutes?

  35. 35.

    eclare

    Allez les Bleus!  France v Morocco would be awesome.  I would want France to win, but I would not be disappointed if they lost.

  36. 36.

    Captain C

    The World Cup’s reenactment of the Moorish invasion of Europe in the Eighth Century C.E. continues!  Morocco has now defeated Portugal, after having conquered their Iberian neighbors Spain in the previous match.  If France defeats England later today (quite possible but by no means assured), we could be seeing a Battle of Tours Derby in the semis.

  39. 39.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Seems like the Morocco Federation made the right call to fire the European manager who wouldn’t put their best offensive player (Hakim Ziyech) on the team, and replace him with a Moroccan manager.

    They still play hella D, but wow their counterattack has some real danger now.  Go Atlas Lions!

    PS I thought Canada was in the hardest group, but didn’t expect 2 teams to make the semis out of it.  Crazy.

  41. 41.

    Shalimar

    @Trincha: Cristiano Ronaldo has been in a massive scoring slump this year.  He’s still in amazing shape so I assume he has a few more good years in him, but I don’t think anyone should question managers deciding his current form doesn’t make him one of their top 11 players.  Both at ManU and Portugal.

  43. 43.

    Alison Rose

    @billcinsd: @MobiusKlein: I was glad when Lalas and Donovan called that shit out after the match. Like, yeah, there have been some questionable calls/non-calls in every match, like always. But that was not the deciding factor here at all. And it only makes you look worse if you can’t own up to your team’s shortcomings, and if you don’t want to admit to your opponent’s strengths.

  45. 45.

    Cmorenc

    @Trincha:

    portugal did not put ronaldo in to start for similar reasons man utd ceased to give ronoldo regular starts – for all his talent, he is a prima dona PITA disruptive to team cohesion.  For example of his MO, consider how he immediately claimed goal in a group stage game that was clearly scored by bruno fernandez because the ball whistled by near his head (without touching it) – he could have legitimately claimed an assist for freezing the GK because of the possibility he might redirect it, but instead of pointing to bruno for their mutual contribution, he tried to seize all the credit for himself.

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