Morocco has the best defense at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
The Atlas Lions became the first African team to reach the semifinals after defeating Portugal 1-0 with another clean sheet under their belt.
No one gave Morocco a real chance to become a contender to win the trophy prior to the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The Atlas Lions have shocked the world by becoming the first African team to reach the semifinals in the history of the tournament after defeating Portugal 1-0 on Saturday night.
Historic run for Morocco at World Cup 2022
It has not been an easy road for them, but they have assembled one of the best defensive set-ups in the history of the campaign under newly appointed manager Walid Regragui. Morocco has kept four clean sheets in five appearances so far at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou has been a key player to make that possible.
What is more impressive is that the Atlas Lions have kept nine clean sheets in their last 10 matches across all competitions. The last team to score a goal against Bounou was Canada in the last game of the group stage. And that was Nayef Aguerd, who scored an own goal in Morocco’s 2-1 win over Le Rouge.
The unbelievable streak started against Liberia in the African Cup of Nations qualifications on matchday 2 of the group stage. Morocco would win that game 2-0 to start this impressive run and consolidate their defensive line. The Atlas Lions would go on and play four friendlies prior to the start of the World Cup against Jamaica (3-0), Chile (2-0), Paraguay (0-0) and Georgia (3-0).
They arrived at Qatar without conceding a goal in five games across all competitions and they started the group stage with a scoreless draw against Croatia. Morocco would then shock the world when they defeated Belgium 2-0 on matchday 2 of Group F. This put them in a good position to secure a spot to the knockout stages, but they needed to finish with a positive result in their last game.
Morocco did what they had to do and defeated Canada 2-1, but they conceded their first goal after seven games. That didn’t stop the Atlas Lions though, as they went on to hold Spain in the quarter-final to 0-0 after 120 minutes and they defeated them on penalty kicks to secure their spot to the next round. On Saturday night, they continued to make history after defeating Portugal 1-0 and now they will play in the semifinals against France on Wednesday with the sole mission to contain Kylian Mbappé and co.