Brazil and Morocco cancelled each other out in the final score, but the Africans played considerably better.
The two favourites in Group C drew against each other in what is likely going to be the toughest match for both sides.
For what it’s worth, this was the game for them to drop points, since Scotland and Haiti are levels below. On the other hand, this may add pressure for Brazil’s and Morocco’s remaining games.
While fans always expect more from the Selecao, it was the Atlas Lions who performed better overall. 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi stole the show and introduced himself to the big stage by bossing the midfield against the five-time champions.
Let’s take a deep dive in how they did it.
What made Brazil struggle against Morocco?
Exploiting Brazil’s discoordinated and tame press
As Squawka mentioned in a recent analysis, Carlo Ancelotti has made adjustments to how Brazil play. They have shown less taste for possession and often allow the opposition to keep the ball for long periods.
In fact, Morocco had nearly 65% possession in the opening 10 minutes. By the end of the match, it was almost even at 51%-49% in favour of the South Americans.
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The Italian seems to be leaning more on a transition-based game at times. It’s a valid way of trying to get the likes of Vinicius Junior and Raphinha in behind. But it also requires energy in the midfield – which, in theory, is Casemiro’s and Bruno Guimaraes’ strength. However, both of them severely lacked in that department tonight.
Brazil showed little to no aggressiveness in the first half, whether they were defending zonally in their own half or stepping up to press individually. There were often two problems: discoordination and lack of aggressiveness – and both were on display for Ismael Saibari’s stunning opener.
Brahim Diaz was surrounded by three Brazilians before making the pass. However, none of them ‘bit’ or made the Real Madrid midfielder think twice. He had little space, but plenty of time to deliver an inch-perfect through ball to his teammate.
At the back, Marquinhos was on Saibari and simply lost him when he made his run in behind. Somehow, the ball found its way between Marquinhos and Gabriel Magalhaes – who once again struggled to replicate their usual club form at international level.
Denying left-sided build-ups
Carlo Ancelotti usually has little regard for a tactical structure when his teams have the ball. It’s common to see an asymmetric shape and players overloading one of the flanks.
The left-hand side is clearly their strongest, with Vinicius and Raphinha joining from time to time. However, Morocco denied Brazil many opportunities to initiate their sequences down that side to eventually look for the Real Madrid star’s runs.
Manager Mohamed Ouahbi placed right-midfielder Brahim Diaz higher up the pitch than Bilal El-Khanouss on the left. The idea was to induce the Selecao to play out from the right – which eventually led to them going long looking for Igor Thiago because nothing happened from the right.
Ancelotti’s men finished the first half focusing 36% of their attacking actions both on the left and on the right. But it got to as much as 40% on the right until the 30th minute, as opposed to just 27% on the left.
Centre-back Roger Ibanez played as the right-back and was possibly the worst player on the pitch. A yellow card meant that Ancelotti replaced him at half-time with 34-year-old Danilo.
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However, Brazil did catch a break and actually managed to score after creating the whole play from the left.
Bono kicked the ball long but towards Gabriel Magalhaes. The Arsenal defender managed to head it straight to a teammate and keep the ball on that side. Only because of this did Bruno Guimaraes and Vinicius Junior manage to link up and equalise.
But it was much more of a circumstantial, isolated event than Brazil actually creating and manipulating Morocco. It ended up costing the Atlas Lions dearly.
Midfield control
We mentioned Ibanez as probably the worst player in the match, but Casemiro was a close second. He also picked up a yellow card in the first half and didn’t come back from the break.
Not only that, but Fabinho also managed to ‘fix’ Brazil’s midfield to a certain extent. Of course, Ancelotti changed his approach and went for a more dominant, patient style which also helped them take control of the actions. Though it didn’t translate to much.
Casemiro and Bruno Guimaraes were sloppy in possession but also inattentive and tame out of it. They combined to win just nine of their 21 duels (43%).
Meanwhile, Bouaddi and El Aynaoui bossed everything on their end. The Moroccan pair won 18 of their 30 individual contests (60%).
They also looked much more presents on all phases than the Brazilian duo. Bouaddi and El Aynaoui were key in helping them recycle possession in an attempt to wear the Selecao out in the second half.
There was a clear intention to not risk much and take the point instead of going all out for the win. And yet, Morocco had the best chances of the second half with their only attempts – that came in stoppage time.
At the same time, Brazil played better going forward – especially after Matheus Cunha replaced Igor Thiago and gave them more movement and dynamism up front. They also managed to access the left wing much more. But still, failed to create any concrete opportunities.
So Morocco wanted nothing but waste time in the second half, only took two shots – both after the 90th minute – and not only nearly scored, but also ran no risk at the back with the opponent controlling possession.
Hard to ask for more than that. Great start for Morocco and a worrying one for Brazil.
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