Game changer: Why Amrabat is key to Morocco’s World Cup final hopes

Morocco have already made history.

The Atlas Lions have become the first African nation to reach the semi-final of the World Cup and they’ve done it in style. Not by playing fluid, attacking football, necessarily, but by working with intensity and discipline to overcome the odds and give bloody noses to the European elite.

Morocco have conceded only one goal so far at Qatar 2022 – and that was an own goal.

They’ve eliminated Spain (3-0 in a penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw), earned a point against Croatia (0-0) and beaten Belgium (2-0), Canada (2-1) and Portugal (1-0). They’re the story of this World Cup.

And there are many key men to their story: Yassine Bounou keeping clean sheets in goal, Achraf Hakimi breaking down the right flank, Hakim Ziyech wreaking havoc out wide, Youssef En-Nesyri leading the line – to name but a few.

But if this Moroccan team is embodied in one man, it’s Sofyan Amrabat.

The 26-year-old anchorman – like 13 of his Moroccan teammates – was born outside of Africa. 

He grew up in the town of Huizen, in the Netherlands, while his other international colleagues hail from Italy, Belgium, Spain, Canada and France. Amrabat actually represented the country of his birth at U15 level before switching to Morocco at U17 level. 

They’ll certainly be glad he did, because Amrabat is the beating heart of this side. He sits just in front of the back four with Azzedine Ounahi and Selim Amallah either side of him in more advanced roles, flanked by Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal. This shape enables Morocco to defend collectively and narrowly, shutting down attacks.

Amrabat has completed 64 successful defensive actions in 528 minutes of action in Qatar – more than any of his colleagues – as well as making an impressive 54 ball recoveries. He’s also managed to win 23 interceptions, two aerial duels, 10 loose ball duels and a team-high 38 defensive duels. 

The Fiorentina midfielder is also vital on the ball, completing 154 of 178 passes (86.52%) – more than any of his teammates. Five were funnelled into the final third, six were long balls and 33 were forward passes.

Aside from the numbers, one of the highlights of the tournament is the way Amrabat has approached each game with an aggression, intensity and decisiveness that’s thrilling to observe – winning the ball with a full-blooded challenge in midfield before progressing it up the pitch. 

And his success has surprised many. Amrabat’s career path to this point hasn’t exactly been in line with the level of performance he’s demonstrated in Qatar. He broke into senior football in the Netherlands with Utrecht in 2014, spending three years at Stadion Galgenwaard before joining Feyernoord for a season.

Then came a two-year spell in Belgium with Club Brugge – although the second campaign of that stint was spent on loan in Serie A with Hellas Verona. Amrabat has stayed in Italy ever since, joining Fiorentina at the culmination of the 2019/20 season with Verona and playing 78 games for the club to date.

His performances in Qatar, however, have raised questions about his future. It’s understood that Fiorentina are keen to keep the Moroccan until the summer, when he enters the final year of his contract at Stadio Artemio Franchi. They paid €20m to sign him from Club Brugge and are keen to at least recoup that fee.

Tottenham Hotspur have been credited with interest in him in the past only to eventually opt for Uruguay midfielder Rodrigo Betancur. It’s understood that several other Premier League clubs are keeping tabs on him but are interested to see whether his form for Morocco translates back into Serie A for the rest of the season.

Not that Amrabat will be thinking about that right now. He’ll earn his 45th cap for Morocco when he steps onto the field at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday evening to face France in his country’s first-ever World Cup semi-final. Considerations of career advancement take a back seat in comparison to making history.

One of the key questions ahead of that game will be the midfield battle – whether or not Morocco’s triumvirate of Amrabat, Ounahi and Amallah have the quality to stifle Adrien Rabiot, Aurélien Tchouaméni and, most pertinently for Amrabat given the positional dynamics, the in-form Antoine Griezmann.

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