Belgium, the recent bronze medalists, will need a feat to advance as they need to beat four-year-old Croatia, on Thursday, in the final round of Group F at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Of the four, Canada can no longer advance, and in addition to Croatia and Belgium, Morocco also has a chance to reach the last 16, and a very good chance of that.
In the previous round, the African team beat the Belgians, who were playing very poorly, and even a draw with Canada would qualify them for the round of 16, but they could even advance with a two-goal defeat if Croatia did not lose. on the Belgians.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, the Croats are clearly the favorites for the match between the two leading European teams. After a forgotten 0-0 draw with Morocco, Luka Modric knocked out Canada with an impressive come-from-behind game.
In addition to the form, the scandal that erupted after the match against Morocco – according to the press – does not promise success to the Belgians. French newspaper L’Equipe wrote earlier that after the embarrassing defeat, many people almost had a fight in the dressing room and Romelu Lukaku had to separate the two parties. At the same time, the players later unanimously denied that there was a problem between them, and Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois also stated that nothing happened in the newspaper. But the truth is that an extraordinary team meeting was held for the players, where they discussed their situation and cleared up any misunderstandings with each other.
“I will not fight him, he is much older than meEden Hazard jokingly commented on the alleged incident with Jan Vertonghen, then continued more seriously. “We had a good discussion. A lot of things have been discussed and now we are clearly preparing to beat Croatia“.
Belgium must definitely win to reach the Round of 16, with a tie they can only qualify if already-eliminated Canada pulls off a huge victory over Morocco. The Croats are in the most comfortable position, having four more goals than Belgium and scoring two more than Morocco so far.
Group F Third round (last):
Croatia – Belgium, Al Rajjan (Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium) 16.00
Expected starting teams:
Croatia:
Dominic Levakovic – Josip Juranovic, Dejan Lovren, Josko Gvardiol, Borna Sousa – Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic – Andrej Kramaric, Marko Levaga, Ivan Perisic
Belgium:
Thibaut Courtois – Timothy Castagne, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld – Thomas Meunier, Youri Tielemans, Axel Witsel, Yannick Carrasco – Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard – Michy Batshuayi
Canada – Morocco, Doha (Al-Thumama Stadium) 16.00
Expected starting teams:
Canada:
Dane St Clair – Alistair Johnston, Stephen Vittoria, Kemal Miller – Sam Adekogbe – Tajun Buchanan, Ismail Kony, Stephen Eustachio, David Howlett – Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David
Morocco:
Yasina Bono – Asraf Hakimi, Naif Aguird, Nouzir Mazrouj, Roman Sayes – Sofjan Amrabat, Azzedine Unahi, Salim Amal Allah – Hakim Zijkis, Zoun Boufal, Youssef Nusiri
