World Cup: the sad subplots to ‘not ideal’ last 32 clash between Morocco and Netherlands
England and Argentina face relatively easy routes into the next round, but the teams ranked six and seven in the world square off in Mexico
Little wonder then that Mohamed Ouahbi, the Morocco head coach, said the 48-team format was “not ideal”.
Unbeaten in three group games, including a draw with Brazil, Morocco’s reward is a meeting with the Netherlands, a match-up that pits teams ranked six and seven in the world against each other in Monterrey for a match that starts at 9am on Tuesday, Hong Kong time.
“Other big teams are facing small fry,” one Moroccan journalist lamented at a press conference where there was standing room only by the time Ouahbi and his goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou, took their seats.
One of the most keenly anticipated second-round matches of this tournament will happen 30 years to the day that a Dutch side captained by current boss Ronald Koeman beat Morocco 2-1 in a World Cup group game, when anything other than that outcome would have qualified as a surprise.
The Morocco of today are a far more competitive and talented proposition. This contest, in the words of Bounou, is “a clash of the titans”, lent extra spice by the close ties between the countries.