Another surprisingly strong performance by an Arab country at the World Cup in Qatar stifled the threat of Luka Modric and held 2018 finalist Croatia to a 0-0 draw. (More Football News)
Morocco's resilient performance Wednesday came 24 hours after Saudi Arabia sparked the first World Cup in the Middle East into life by beating Lionel Messi's Argentina in one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history.
Tunisia followed that up with a scoreless draw against European Championship semifinalist Denmark.
Morocco managed to do enough to rein in Croatia captain Modric, who was still his team's best player in their Group F opener and had one of the best chances when his shot just rose over the crossbar in the first half. Dejan Lovren got a shot off at a corner in the second half and Sofyan Amrabat cleared off the line for Morocco to preserve the draw.
바카라It was a difficult game, especially in the first 15 minutes,바카라 Modric said. He said Croatia 바카라missed something up front.바카라
Modric didn't have nearly the same kind of impact he had throughout the last World Cup in Russia when he led Croatia to its first final before losing to France.
That was largely down to Morocco, who harassed and harried the Croatians at every turn, buoyed by their red-shirted fans, who outnumbered and made much more noise than the Croatian supporters.
바카라They played their hearts out. I congratulate them on that,바카라 said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic. 바카라They had a really energetic game and they had great support.바카라
The 37-year-old Modric is playing in his fourth and what's expected to be his final World Cup, where he's looking to add an international title to his trophy-laden career with Real Madrid.
He was voted best player at the World Cup four years ago to wide acclaim. When he was then announced as player of the match on Wednesday, it was greeted by an outburst of boos from Morocco fans who had chanted and whirled scarves as they jumped up and down in the final minutes at Al Bayt Stadium.
Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi had the best chance for Morocco with a thumping second-half shot punched away with both fists by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
The result was a major confidence-booster for Morocco and coach Walid Regragui, who was only hired at the end of August 바카라 his first international coaching job 바카라 and had less than three months to prepare the team for Qatar.
바카라We were playing against the runners-up for the last World Cup,바카라 Regragui said. "I'm so proud of the boys. I'm proud of the men."
MORE THAN MODRIC
As brilliant as he is, Modric is closer to 40 than 30 now and will need more help from his team if Croatia is going to get to another World Cup final. Forwards Ivan Perisic and Nikola Vlasic weren't the threats they were expected to be against Morocco and Vlasic went off injured in the second half.
바카라We haven't come here just to compete,바카라 Modric said. "On the basis of our Russian experience, we have ambitions to do the same or even better. But even before that tournament we said let's first set a primary objective of getting past the group stage.바카라
ROOKIE COACH
There were serious concerns that Regragui's lack of international experience and time to prepare the Morocco team would result in another early exit. Morocco has only got past the group stage once at a World Cup, back in 1986. But Regragui's team was well drilled, even if Chelsea's Hakim Ziyech didn't play as well as expected on the right wing.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Morocco and Regragui have another huge test in their next game against No. 2-ranked Belgium in a tough Group F. Croatia will expect a win against Canada.
