On Tuesday, Morocco will play their final friendly before resuming their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign when they battle Peru at the Civitas Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid.
In their first fixture since the World Cup, the Atlas Lions shocked Brazil 2-1 on Saturday, while the Peruvians saw their three-match-unbeaten run end, falling 2-0 to Germany.
Match preview
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Over three months since their historic run at the World Cup ended, the Moroccans made more history last weekend, scoring for the first time against Selecao, while also defeating the top-ranked team in the world for the first time.
In doing so, they became only the second team from Africa to ever defeat the Brazilians in an international fixture, as they made the most of their chances created, scoring on two of their three targeted efforts.
That victory also ended a four-match losing run for them versus South American opponents, making it their first positive result against that region since a 1-1 draw with Chile in 1998.
Overall, Morocco appeared to be second-best against Brazil, with their goalkeeper Yassine Bounou making some ill-judged lunges and poor passing, but in the end, the Atlas Lions took advantage of their opponents' deficiencies down the flanks, producing some excellent passing for both goals.
That performance was reminiscent of what we saw from Walid Regragui's men throughout their run to the semi-finals in Qatar, as they often collapsed into a low-block, while defending for long stretches and catching their opponents on the counter with some quick passes out from the back.
Having already punched their ticket to the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in the Ivory Coast next year, Regragui will have plenty of time to prepare and assess his squad as they follow up this encounter with matches against South Africa and Liberia later on this year.
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It was a difficult opening match of 2023 for Peru, as they were contained quite easily by the Germans over the weekend, failing to register a shot on target with only 34% possession.
That was only their second defeat suffered under manager Juan Reynoso, as his defensive approach backfired with the Peruvian back five often caught out, while the midfield four failed to contain the Germans.
The 53-year-old ex-captain of the Peruvian national team has often called on his fullbacks to join the attack while catching their opponents out at times with overloads.
Their defeat versus Germany was the first time they had conceded multiple goals in a single match since dropping a 2-0 decision to Brazil in September 2021.
Los Incas have only dropped two of their last eight contests versus teams outside the CONMEBOL region, but they have not faced a side from Africa since 2012, when they drew Tunisia (1-1) and defeated Nigeria (1-0) that year.
Historically they have only faced Morocco once, at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, when Teofilo Cubillas notched a brace, with Roberto Challe scoring in between as the Peruvians came away with a 3-0 triumph.
Team News
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Morocco had most of their World Cup team available for the match against Brazil as Sofiane Boufal earned his 40th cap, Hakim Ziyech made his 51st career appearance and Romain Saiss featured for the 73rd time, moving beyond Abdelkrim El Hadroui and into a tie for sixth all-time alongside Mohamed Hazzaz and Youssef Chippo.
Boufal fired home his seventh international goal for the Moroccans on Saturday, with the other strike coming from Abdelhamid Sabiri, his second with the national team.
Ziyech needs one more goal to surpass Abdeljalil Hadda for third all-time, while Youssef En-Nesyri can draw even with Marouane Chamakh and Hassan Amcharrat for fourth, having netted 17 times thus far.
Over the weekend, Reynoso had four Major League Soccer players in his starting 11, including Orlando City teammates Pedro Gallese and Wilder Cartagena, along with Luis Abram from Atlanta United and Raul Ruidiaz of the Seattle Sounders.
Luis Advincula picked up his 109th cap as he remains in third all-time for Peru after Yoshimar Yotun replaced Pedro Aquino in the second half against Germany, while Andre Carrillo is nine caps away from reaching 100.
Of the players chosen for this encounter, Edison Flores is the top goalscorer with 15 for his country, with Carrillo finding the mark 11 times and Gianluca Lapadula scoring on eight occasions.
Morocco possible starting lineup:
Bounou; Hakimi, Riad, Saiss, Amraoui; Zaroury, Amrabat, Salah; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal
Peru possible starting lineup:
Gallese; Advincula, Araujo, Abram, Trauco; Flores, Cartagena, Tapia, Yotun; Carrillo, Ruidiaz
We say: Morocco 1-1 Peru
Fresh off another emotional high, we would not be surprised to see a slight letdown from the Moroccans in this match, particularly given that they do not have much to play for until the African Cup of Nations commences next January.
Peru, meanwhile, are a strong and formidable squad who, like Morocco, have lots of solid continuity and strength, and we expect them to present a formidable challenge to the Atlas Lions on Tuesday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
