International Friendly: Atlas Lions Prepare to Celebrate with Brazil!

Morocco vs Brazil

After a phenomenal tournament at the Qatar World Cup and a spectacular welcome home by their fanatical fans, Morocco are in action again this weekend, and they have a box office name to take on when the step out at the Grand Stade de Tanger on Saturday.

International Friendly: Morocco vs Brazil is one of the standout fixtures of the international weekend as it brings together one of the over-achievers in Qatar with one of the teams which failed to live up to their fans’ hopes. There’s the added ingredient that Brazil are in the process of changing manager, and that may just pre-occupy their players in the run up to this friendly.

The Morocco vs Brazil betting odds are backing a Selecao win and the FIFA World rankings would agree, rating Brazil as the best team on the planet and the Atlas Lions at 24^th, but there will be a party atmosphere in Tangier and a team of hosts determined to give their fans a treat.

Talking Points

Lions’ star quality

Morocco were many fans’ team of the tournament in Qatar and they reached the semi-final with a consistently high level of performance to entertain the neutrals and give some big guns a serious headache. Only France could stop their progress after the Atlas Lions had seen off Portugal, Spain and Belgium to reach the last four. Head coach Walid Regragui only took over in August 2022 but he worked wonders as he moulded a team which was one of the best organised defensively and with plenty of threat further up the field.

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Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri and Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech both terrorized opposition defences while Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat broke up play brilliantly in the middle of the park. And another flair player who looks to have a bright future is Burnley winger Anass Zarouri who has been called up again after appearing in the World Cup Third Place playoff against Croatia.

At the other end of the pitch Sevilla keeper Bono was one of the standout stoppers in Qatar and he stands in front of a high-quality defence. West Ham defender Nayef Aguerd, a £30m signing from Ligue 1 side Rennes, is one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League while PSG’s Achraf Hakimi is as good going forward as he is at fullback, and the team is led by former Wolves defender Romain Saiss, now at Besiktas.

The Morocco vs Brazil highlights are not going to show a defence versus attack session; sure thing they will be hard to break down but the Atlas Lions have plenty of teeth.

Post Tite Brazil is here

The Selecao will be hurting after the World Cup and a 4-2 quarter final exit at the hands of Croatia; and the disappointment signalled the end of the Tite era which ran from 2016 to 2022. Ramon Menezez has stepped up from his work with Brazil’s U20s to take the role of interim coach, but reports have emerged that the big players in the squad for Morocco have been speculating over who is set to replace Tite.

Ederson and co. are set to take on Morocco in their upcoming International Friendly clash — Ederson is ready to keep a clean sheet against Morocco in their forthcoming match

Manchester City keeper Ederson has said he wants Real Madrid out of the Champions League quickly, not to improve the Sky Blues’ chances, but to speed up a rumoured move to Brazil for Los Blancos’ boss Carlo Ancelotti, who is contracted to the Santiago Bernabeu until 2024. The Brazil federation has denied it has done a deal with the 63 year old but that hasn’t stopped Ederson chatting about his idea with other senior players in the squad, including Manchester United’s midfield general Casemiro and the Real Madrid trio of centre back Eder Militao and striker Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.

What the Los Blancos players feel about Ederson’s wish is anybody’s guess, but these five players would be in anyone’s team and they will be together to take on the Atlas Lions on Saturday.

History

Brazil are nine times Copa America champions and five times World Champions; and they won the only previous encounter with Morocco, a 3-0 victory way back in 1998.

The Atlas Lions were AFCON champs in 1976 and their best performance at the World Cup was just four months ago. And since Walid Regragui took over, up until the semi-final defeat to France, Morocco had won six and drawn two of the previous eight games, conceding just a single goal.