World Cup 2022: Reasons for Morocco to be confident of beating Portugal

The Atlas Lions have been one of the surprise packages at this year's tournament in Qatar and are competing in the last eight for the first time in their history.

Walid Regragui, who will become the first African manager to take charge of a quarter-final match at the World Cup, saw his side stun Spain 3-0 on penalties in the last 16 on Tuesday, and they will be bidding to pull off another upset when they lock horns with Portugal.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at three reasons for Morocco to be confident of making it through to the semi-finals with victory over Portugal.

Defensive solidity

Morocco have conceded the joint-fewest goals at the 2022 World Cup along with Tunisia (one), and no opposing player has scored against them at this year's tournament, with an own goal by Nayef Aguerd against Canada the only time they have conceded.

Indeed, Aguerd, Achraf Hakimi, Romain Saiss and Noussair Mazraoui have formed a strong defensive partnership across the back four, protecting goalkeeper Yassine Bounou who saved two penalties in the shootout win over Spain and is poised to earn his 50th international cap on Saturday.

At the time of writing, only England star Jude Bellingham has won as many tackles as Hakimi (11) so far in Qatar, while Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly (30) is the only player to have made more clearances than Saiss (29).

Across all competitions, Morocco have now kept seven clean sheets in their last eight international matches, including three in four games at the 2022 World Cup.

The Atlas Lions will be confident of keeping Portugal quiet on Saturday and doing so will see them equal Nigeria (seven) with the most clean sheets for an African nation in World Cup history.

Unbeaten record

Morocco's defensive solidity has been a major factor behind their impressive unbeaten run of nine matches, including six victories and three draws, with their most recent draw against Spain finishing with the aforementioned shootout triumph.

The Atlas Lions were one of only five nations to progress from the group stage unbeaten, with a goalless draw against 2018 runners-up Croatia followed by a surprise 2-0 victory against Belgium and then a 2-1 win over Canada.

Morocco have now extended their unbeaten World Cup run to five matches, their longest-ever streak without defeat in the competition, and four of those matches have come under head coach Regragui.

Indeed, Regragui is yet to lose as Morocco boss since taking the reigns in August, winning four and drawing three of his seven matches in the dugout, and his side's impressive scalps over two teams ranked inside the top seven in the world - Belgium and Spain ranked second and seventh respectively - can only breed confidence ahead of Saturday's quarter-final.

Form of star man Hakim Ziyech

Hakim Ziyech may have struggled to make his mark during an underwhelming spell at club level with Chelsea, but he has excelled on international duty with Morocco.

The 29-year-old has contributed to half of Morocco's four goals at the 2022 World Cup, with an assist for Zakaria Aboukhlal provided in the win over Belgium followed by a perfectly weighted chip for his goal against Canada, catching goalkeeper Milan Borjan off his line from around 35 yards out.

Ziyech is known for his playmaking qualities, skilful technique and ability from set-pieces, but the attacking midfielder has also put in the hard yards defensively at this year's World Cup, making a total of eight blocks which is just two behind Germany's David Raum at the top of the charts.

Across all competitions, Ziyech has contributed with 19 goals and 11 assists in 47 appearances for Morocco and he could be the key to unlocking a Portugal backline who have already conceded five times in Qatar.

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