World Cup Takeaways: Day 8 - Morocco Muffins Belgium, Davies Unable to Outpace Defeat, and Germany vs Spain

Mulan

This is my new series covering the World Cup. I will pick talking points from each gameday to write about. I will most likely write one or two daily posts until the final. Today, I will be talking about the following:

  • Morocco's Perfect Game

  • Croatia's Experience is too Much for Canada

  • Japan gets Japan'd

  • Germany Not Dead Yet

Morocco's Perfect Game

Watching how Morocco performed from their first free kick all the way to the end makes it apparent that this win wasn't a coincidence nor was it a steal.

Morocco's manager knew what to do, the way he isolated Kevin De Bruyne was flawless tactically. The news came out that Morocco had an analyst analyze Belgium's games for months and more details that show this wasn't a coincidence. The first half had Morocco make things slightly more difficult than they needed to, though.

The second half saw Morocco come into the game with full focus and belief that they could defeat Belgium and so they did. They attacked directly and knew how to defend themselves exactly. Morocco's midfield absolutely controlled the middle of the park, making Kevin De Bruyne and Co. look incompetent.

Even Lukaku couldn't change much. Eden wasn't the second-best Hazard on the pitch and the third-best overall. Hakim Ziyech did what I was hoping he'd do and took charge of being the connection point between the midfield and attack. Morocco needs a win or a draw to qualify and as long as Belgium doesn't defeat Croatia, they still qualify. I like Morocco's odds.

Croatia's Experience is too Much for Canada

Despite their raunchy start, Canada slowly but surely found themselves overwhelmed and losing control to the Croatian side.

In Croatia's game against Morocco, the African side was willing to let them take possession as they knew how to win those battles without over-committing. Morocco knew when to engage and when to avoid engagement. Canada did not as the side is relatively young and very inexperienced for such a stage.

Once Canada lost control, they couldn't get it back. Canada was quite the exciting team to watch and see perform but the experience is a factor that can't be duplicated and we already saw that in Real Madrid this year. Croatia just knew how and where to hit Canada.

Japan gets Japan'd

This was avoidable for Japan, but they did what Germany did against them in the first gameday while Costa Rica had Japan's mentality.

Don't get me wrong, Costa Rica didn't deserve to win, but, when you enter a match without having your best weapons and play loosely enough believing that the goal will come no matter what without putting 100% effort in, there comes a point where you actually lose mentally.

Japan played better but this is where the extra 15-10% of mentality comes to play that Germany lacked against Japan. You need to be 100% focused to win games. This could have been a smooth qualification for Japan but instead, they gave a lifeboat to Germany. Not much to say tactically, Japan should have won but didn't have the focus for it.

Now Japan needs to win over Spain as qualification is based on goal difference in case of a tie on points.

Germany Not Dead Yet

Germany found itself in great spirit out of nowhere.

This match had both teams playing a great high-pressure style that made the game lacking chances. Spain is amongst the best teams in the world when it comes to building up from back, still, in the second half Germany made them look slow. Also, Germany was having quite the tough time building up from the back. That's why the game was played in the middle of the pitch most of the times.

Germany's defense was great tactically, but sometimes you need quality with the players themselves, and that's something Germany doesn't have, especially in the back. Sule is way too slow and Kehrer was just bad, more quality players would have stopped that Morata goal. But, outside of those quality issues, Germany's defensive system was great.

Offensively, Germany had problems, at least until the end of the first half. Gnabry's decisions were wrong most if not all of the time. He is definitely Germany's worst player so far. Once Leroy Sane stepped in, Germany looked like a completely different team. Even Musiala looked better thanks to Sane's movement. Gnabry killed an entire side for Germany and the team improved immensely thanks to that one change.

Also, offensively, Germany's tactics were based on counter-attack to hit Spain's high line defense. Overall, Germany took a while to get their head into the game 100% and started to improve gradually.

Luis Enrique's side is technically impressive, and that showed in the match, especially in the first fifteen minutes. International teams are more difficult to give philosophy too and have such command over but Luis Enrique managed to do just that. Spain's fluidity is the best among all the teams in the World Cup, but Spain's quality just isn't the best there is which might cost them in the future, just like it did when Spain's players just didn't punish Germany's absence of focus in the beginning of that match.

Rudiger's cancelled goal did seem to motivate Germany and instill the belief in them that they could score. Spain was clearly better in the first half and the game was 50-50 in the second half. Germany might actually the best the worst among qualified teams if they end going through.

Germany is learning with the tournament, I personally predict that Klostermann will start next game, I also predict Germany will commit to having three in midfield, and finally, the team won't start Muller or Gnabry, or at least they shouldn't. Gnabry getting benched might actually be the start of Germany's revolution.



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Still I can't believe what Morocco did against mighty Belgium. By the way I personally like Ashraf Hakimi. So I'm happy now 😊

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