Morocco 0-0 Croatia: Croatians face difficulty with ball possession and worry for World Cup sequence

The expectation for Croatia’s debut turned to frustration over the lack of offensive power.

Morocco 0-0 Croatia

Wednesday’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 opened with Croatia’s debut against Morocco, one of the teams arriving for the World Cup with expectations of a positive performance in the group stage.

The Croatians started with Lovren alongside Gvardiol and Vlasic on the right wing. On the other hand, Morocco entered the field with the 4-3-3 format, used only once during the entire cycle of preparation for the world cup.

The first half was not very entertaining in terms of scoring chances, but the duel between Croatia and Morocco’s different styles made this an interesting matchup from a tactical point of view.

Croatia tried to get the opponent involved early on with the exchange of passes from Brozovic, Gvardiol and Modric. Morocco was waiting for infiltration in the defensive field to put pressure on the opponent, but when the ball was recovered, the vertical style was present.

Following the first half, Morocco’s style dropped considerably and Croatia improved in the post-loss pressure of possession. However, the Croatians had considerable difficulty creating danger, with only two on-target finishes.

In the second half, Morocco showed greater quality and Amrabat was the highlight with the protection of space between the lines. In addition, Croatia had Modric very participative at the base of the offensive plays, acting closer to Brozovic.

That is, unlike the expectation before the start of this World Cup, Modric was not stuck in the final third, despite more qualified teammates in the midfield. Possession of the ball continued slowly and unproductively, without posing any real danger to the opponent.

With this result, the two teams started rooting for a draw between Belgium and Canada, in the second clash of Group F in this FIFA World Cup.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the presence of Luka Modric, the first player in three decades of football to compete in the World Cup and Euro.

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