The second match of the FIFA World Cup on what is a sizzling Sunday of action sees the golden generation of Belgium looking to make it through to the last 16 of the tournament when they go up against Morocco.
Belgium got off the mark with an unconvincing win in their opening match but they will want to offer more control in this one. They face a Morocco side who could be hard to break down and who could be dangerous after drawing their first match.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and exclusive on the BBC 1 channel in the UK where the build-up begins at 12.30pm and the match kicks off at 1pm.
Belgium
Given their lofty world ranking, Belgium went into the tournament with fairly high expectations, although perhaps not quite as high as four years ago and even last year at the Euros given that their squad is getting no younger. We saw the issue they might have in that opening game because those elder players struggled to get around the pitch and they were troubled by the pace of Canada all night. In the end they were delighted to take an ugly 1-0 win and run.
You would hope from a Belgian point of view that they will build into the tournament but if that is going to happen then someone is going to need to ease the burden on Kevin de Bruyne, who basically carried the side whenever they crossed the halfway line in the first game. Belgium used the ball poorly against the Canadians and really need a huge improvement here. The beauty of winning that opening match is that they don’t need to win this one though so perhaps controlling the ball will be their optimum aim.
Morocco
I guess if you offered Morocco a draw in their opening match against the 2018 finalists Croatia before a ball was kicked they would have gladly taken it but when you look back on the match after the event, they might have a tinge of disappointment that they weren’t good enough to get the job done. Morocco have a similar profile to a number of teams in this tournament in that they are organised well, hard to beat but lack a killer instinct in a front man to turn them from an acceptable side to a special one.
That isn’t to say that they don’t have quality because in Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal they do but those players occupy positions deeper or wider than perhaps this team needs. If they can find a striker or those two can bring out a piece of magic then there is no reason Morocco can’t pull off an upset here. The one thing we can be fairly sure of is that they won’t be drawn out of their defensive positions so they have a good platform to build from.
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Team News
Belgium are going to remain without Romelu Lukaku for this match unless something incredible happened on the eve of the game. That means Michy Batshuayi is likely to continue to deputise. Thomas Meunier could start after coming off the bench in the opening game.
Morocco full-backs Achraf Hakimi and Moussair Mazraoui will have their fitness assessed ahead of this match. The latter was replaced during the second half of the draw with Croatia so he is probably less likely to play.
Betting
I had my concerns over Belgium heading into the tournament and the way they just couldn’t get a hold on Canada in the opening match certainly did nothing to alleviate those doubts I had. They might have it a little easier in this match because Morocco don’t come at teams from all angles like Canada do but on the flip side of that they are going to be more organised and tougher to break down for a Belgium side that has absolutely no pace and relies too much on the magic of Kevin de Bruyne.
Admittedly if you are going to rely on the magic of an individual make sure it is arguably the best player in the world but even he can’t do it all on his own. Of more concern is this aging Belgium defence and if Morocco can show some composure in the final third that Canada couldn’t or didn’t then I think the African outfit can get some joy in this one. You can get a shade under even money that Morocco get a draw or a win out of this match and with a draw being far from the worst result for Belgium anyway, in a similar way that England did it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if Belgium play not to lose and wait for their talisman to come back for the next game to seal their qualification.
Tips
Back Morocco (+0.5AH) to beat Belgium for a 3/10 stake at 1.93 with Bet365
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