Belgium vs Morocco: Red Devils must improve to tame Atlas Lions
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World Cup 2022: Belgium vs Morocco odds, preview and tips
Belgium top their World Cup group, but were fortunate to come away with a 1-0 victory against Canada, competing at their first finals in 36 years.
The Red Devils next face Morocco whose head coach Walid Regragui saluted a “great outcome” after his side held 2018 runners-up Croatia to a goalless draw on the same day.
Ladbrokes go 20/21 in the Belgium winning odds for Sunday’s game, while the north Africans are available at 29/10, with the draw priced at 23/10.
Belgium vs Morocco form
Red Devils coach Roberto Martinez accepted Canada “were better than us” in a narrow win settled by Michy Batshuayi latching on to a long punt forward early in the second half.
However, Belgium were in danger of following Argentina and Germany in becoming the latest high-profile team to suffer a loss in their opening group game when they conceded an early penalty which was saved by Thibaut Courtois and the inexperienced Canadians went on to outshoot their more illustrious opponents 22-9.
The man-of-the-match award surprisingly went to Kevin De Bruyne who said: “I don’t think I played a great game. I don’t know why I got the trophy, maybe because of my name. I don’t think we played well enough as a team. We didn’t find any solutions. We started really badly, the momentum was with Canada and we didn’t find a way through their press.”
Morocco have only once reached the knockout stage in five appearances at the World Cup finals but will have taken encouragement by the way Canada took the game to Belgium and another draw for a team boasting the likes of Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech and PSG right-back Achraf Hakimi looks the way to go at 23/10 in the World Cup odds.
As spirited as the Atlas Lions were, their two efforts on target came from their full-backs, so the underdogs not to score looks tempting at 29/20, while another goalless draw has its merits at 15/2 in the World Cup betting.
For those who cannot see beyond 2018 semi-finalists Belgium, who were twice beaten by the Netherlands in the Nations League this year, they are 31/20 to win and under 3.5 match goals.
Belgium vs Morocco head to head
Belgium won the only competitive match between the nations in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup but lost two subsequent friendlies by an aggregate of 8-1 in 1999 and 2008.
The Red Devils scored 25 goals in their eight games during qualifying, but their top scorer Romelu Lukaku was absent for the first game having barely played for Inter Milan this season and will not feature on Sunday.
Morocco certainly looked up for it against the Croats, celebrating aggressive tackles as if they were goals, and a close encounter looks on the cards.
Belgium vs Morocco team news
Morocco left-back Noussair Mazraoui was taken off on a stretcher during the game against Croatia and was replaced by Yahia Attiyat Allah, so it remains to be seen if the Bayern Munich defender will be available.
Lukaku will miss his second game of the group stage with a thigh injury, so Batshuayi is likely to lead the line again, with support from Eden Hazard and De Bruyne.
Martinez deployed a 3-4-2-1 against Canada, while his opposite number favoured a 4-3-3 in the clash with Croatia.
Goalscorer odds
Batshuayi unsurprisingly leads the way in the World Cup odds at 10/3 to break the deadlock or 13/10 to score at any time, while De Bruyne is 9/2 and 15/8 in both markets.
Injury-prone Eden Hazard failed to make an impression against the Maple Leafs so it may be best to dodge the 6/1 and 12/5 on the Real Madrid man to find the net.
Leandro Trossard has been in form for Brighton this season and looks an interesting prospect at 11/2 and 23/10 in the two options.
Of the outsiders Yannick Carrasco and Youri Tielemans are 12/1 to draw first blood or 5/1 and 9/2 respectively in the any-time market.
Ziyech is 10/1 and 4/1 from the Morocco contingent, while odds of 20/1 and 8/1 catch the eye on Hakimi to get in on the act.
Match Info
Where: Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
When: 13:00, Sunday 27th November
How to watch: BBC
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
