Qatar 2022 | Group F: Can Morocco unseat 2018 performers Belgium and Croatia?

On the face of it an easier group given the lack of a traditional heavyweight, Group F is deceptively tough given the presence of the two teams that punched above their weight in 2018, Croatia and Belgium.

Morocco, arguably the second-strongest African team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar,  and Canada, the best qualifiers from Concacaf, have the ability to cause problems.

Belgium

The 2018 bronze medallists have a now-ageing but still potent golden generation who won a bronze medal at Russia 2018 and have kept Belgium in Fifa’s top 10 for the better part of a decade, going to Qatar ranked second in the world.

There were questions over Romelu Lukaku’s technical attributes at Chelsea, but the Inter Milan striker is almost always on a scoresheet and notched eight goals in Belgium’s solid qualifying campaign where they won six and drew two of eight group games.

Twice Bundesliga and Premier League player of the season Kevin De Bruyne is easily among the world’s top players. The engine in Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City trophy machine finished third in the 2022 Ballon d’Or and is the man who will carry Belgium to their finishing point in Qatar.

Spaniard Roberto Martinez has coached Belgium since 2016 and kept them super-competitive. As was the case in Russia, and at Euro 2020 where they lost 2-1 against eventual champions Italy, pedigree is the Red Devils’ biggest question mark at World Cup 2022 for a side that plays flowing football, but can find sides with greater history to their names hard to progress past.

Canada

Many will write the 2026 co-hosts off at their second World Cup, but a strong qualifying campaign and ranking of 41 indicate there is more to meets the eye from the North Americans.

Canada topped the eight-team Concacaf (Caribbean, Central and North America) final qualifying group with 28 points, on goal difference from Mexico, with eight wins, four draws and two defeats in 14 matches.

Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is a world-class left-back who can also play wing or in central midfield. His pace and brilliance on the overlap will be key for Canada in Qatar, but Les Rouges face a nervous two weeks sweating on Davies’ fitness after he limped off with a hamstring injury in a Bundesliga match against Hertha Berlin this weekend.

Englishman John Herdman, 47, coached the women’s Canadian team to Olympic bronze medals in 2012 and 2016 before switching to the men’s side. He has done an excellent job forging a close-knit, competitive outfit that can cause upsets in Qatar.

Morocco

After Senegal, on paper and in World Cup pedigree Morocco are seemingly Africa’s second-best hope in Qatar, but they are known for bottling it in major competitions.

Mega-wealthy Moroccan football boasts one of the best development facilities in the world – the King Mohammed VI Football Complex, renovated at a cost of R1.08bn in 2019. The second African team to play at a World Cup in 1970, in 1986 they were the first to progress past the group stage.

Like one of their star players, though – Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech – Morocco can flatter to deceive, as they have by winning just one Africa Cup of Nations trophy (1976). Ziyech, a star player in the Ajax Amsterdam team that reached the 2018-19 Uefa Champions League semifinals, has underwhelmed at Chelsea. Yet it was his omission from the Morocco squad that led to Vahid Halilhodžić being fired in August. The Bosnian coach steered Morocco to an extra-time defeat to Egypt in the semifinals of the Covid-delayed 2021 Nations Cup without Ziyech.

Walid Regragui has come in and played Ziyech on the right wing in some impressive warm-up results, including a 2-0 win against Chile and 0-0 draw against Paraguay.

Paris St-Germain’s Achraf Hakimi, one of the world’s best right-backs, is the star player for the Atlas Lions, who were impressive in qualifying. Morocco won six out of six in the group stage, Turkish-based forward Ayoub El Kaabi scoring six goals, and decimated Democratic Republic of the Congo 5-2 on aggregate in the playoff.

They can make an impact in Qatar, but only if they can upset Belgium or Croatia to get past Group F.

Croatia

Like Spain, possessing a golden generation that is approaching the end of its term, Croatia will be hard-pressed to match or somehow even better their phenomenal runners-up placing at Russia 2018.

But with Luka Modrić going strong, and other players of superstar quality at top European clubs surviving from the 2018 squad, some youth injected and a coach in Zlatko Dalić who has achieved great success since his appointment in 2017, Croatia area easily a team to watch in Qatar.

They topped a tough Group H in Uefa’s qualifying with 23 points to Russia’s 22, losing their opening game against Slovenia then going unbeaten for the next nine games. A rare disappointment in Dalić's tenure was an exit on penalties in the last-16 to Spain at Euro 2020.

Modrić, the player of the tournament in Russia and 2018 Ballon d’Or winner, is 37 but was instrumental steering Real Madrid to a 14th Champions League title last season. Fellow midfielders of the class of Mateo Kovačić and Inter’s Marcelo Brozović and Tottenham Hotspur winger Ivan Perišić survive from the 2018 squad. Emerging centrebacks Joško Gvardiol (RB Leipzig) and Josip Šutalo (Dinamo Zagreb) add much-needed youth.

Croatia can go far again in Qatar.