and Morocco led to a tie in which the North African team presented a more ambitious effort than the one with which it reached fourth place in Qatar 2022. Mohamed Ouahbi’s determined bet gave him the lead on the scoreboard with a hall pass from Brahim Díaz and a school goal from Saibari. Luckily for Carlo Ancelotti, his debut with Brazil and as a World Cup coach was enhanced by Vinicius with a good goal that established the final tie. The duel left Morocco to gain respect for its technique and Brazil for now depends a lot on Vinicius.
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Alisson Becker, Roger Ibañez (Danilo, min. 45), Marquinhos, Douglas Santos, Gabriel Magalhães, Vinícius Júnior, Casemiro (Fabinho, min. 45), Raphinha, Lucas Paquetá (Matheus Cunha, min. 60), Bruno Guimarães (Danilo Santos, min. 79) and Igor Thiago (Luiz Henrique, min. 61)
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Yassine Bounou, Noussair Mazraoui (Anass Salah-Eddine, min. 79), Chadi Riad, Issa Diop, Achraf Hakimi, Brahim Díaz (Chemsdine Talbi, min. 64), Neil El Aynaoui, Azzedine Ounahi (Samir El Mourabet, min. 64), Bilal El Khannouss (Ayoube) Amaimouni-Echghouyab, min. 79), Ayyoub Bouaddi and Ismael Saibari (Soufiane Rahimi, min. 88)
Goals 0-1 min. 20: Ismael Saibari 1-1 min. 31: Vinicius Junior
Referee Slavko Vincic
yellow cards Casemiro (min. 36), Ibañez (min. 42)
romantic that was lost. The ball was his. From the tall but fine midfielder Bouaddi, the best game by far, from the elusive Ounahi, from the depth of Mazraoui and from the dominant Hakimi, who announced in the preview what was happening at the start of the match: “We are the Brazil of Africa.” What might have sounded like boastful bravado, Brahim took it upon himself to prove otherwise. Cornered in his field, he happened to see out of the corner of his eye that Sadbari had discovered a crater behind Marquinhos and Magalhaes. The bite of the PSV attacker flew over the hairstyle of hypster careless of Alisson. A great goal too made in Brasil.
Ancelotti’s players did not see the ball until the hydration break, televisions and a full-fledged time-out arrived for the coaches to try to rectify the fact that it is impossible for the players to hear them when they shout. Two of the surprises in Ancelotti’s eleven seemed overwhelmed by the weight of the shirt. Neither the full-back Ibañez was capable of stopping Mazraoui nor the tank Thiago Junior of stretching the team. If the rookies were worrying, it was even more worrying about the players with so many scars like Casemiro and Paquetá. This one in particular to show again that there is no fantasy ten in Brazil. And the one he has, Neymar, still hasn’t recovered from his calf problems. And when he is discharged, if he is discharged, we will have to see if he still has the inspiration and physique left to win games.
Raphinha was not fueled either and it was Vinicius who led the uprising in Brazil. The first time he won the baseline, Thiago Junior failed to connect forcefully with his cross. The second time he faced it, this time already in the area, he broke away from Hakimi inwards to open the crosshairs and unleash a sharp, crossed lash to which Bono reacted late due to the violence of the blow. The goal consolidates the theories that in this Brazil so depleted of talent, the Real Madrid winger is the only one with a real imbalance. It’s not that he had an excessively thin waist, but he was always a threat to Morocco.
The blow was blamed by Ouhabi’s daring selection. Paquetá with a half scissors rushed Bono. It was Brazil’s best moment, which stagnated as soon as it could not run. Ancelotti sat Casemiro and Ibañez, both with yellow, but also with forty-five gray minutes. Fabinho and Danilo were the replacements.
The second act was more about alternatives in mastering the game than actual shooting. Although it was Morocco that showed that they had ball control, more intention and more fluidity. Imperial Bouaddi was there. The young midfielder, from Lille, 18 years old, gave a master class in positioning, cleaning and class in distributing the ball. He sometimes surpassed Casemiro, Bruno Guimaraes and Fabinho with an insulting maturity and elegance. At that level, it can be one of the sensations of this World Cup.
The duel took place due to that continuous feeling that Morocco knew better what to do with the ball when it was their turn to dominate and that Brazil relied more on physicality and speed. Vinicius continued to face what he could while Rapinha did not end up fine-tuning. Ancelotti kept them both throughout the game, finishing with Moroccan dominance and with a long shot that Alisson did not block and Taibi could not save.
