Morocco vs Croatia - 2022 World Cup Betting Guide

Morocco Team Info – Impressive In Qualification

Morocco currently sits in the 23rd place in the world rankings, the second highest of the African nations. The team had a massively successful qualifiers, where they ploughed through their 8 games with 7 wins and 1 draw. They scored a whopping 25 goals in these games, and only conceded 3 goals. That makes for an average of 3.125 goals per game. The 2022 World Cup will be their 6th appearance in the competition. They first entered in 1970, but were knocked out in the group stage. They then qualified in 1986, when they had their best run, reaching the round of 16. In 1994 and 1998 they qualified again, but would not qualify for another 20 years. In 2018, they were placed into a group with Spain, Portugal and Iran, and finished at the bottom of the group.

Many players in their current squad play abroad in the top leagues in Europe. They have two choices for goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou and Munir El Kajoui. In defence they have their captain, Romain Saiss, as well as the Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimi, who plays as a right back or full back. In the middle of the field, they can employ Younes Belhanda, Sofyan Amrabat, or Selim Amallah. In attack, they have another key player in Hakim Ziyech, who plays for Chelsea. Alongside him they can play Youssef En-Nesyri and Ayoub El Kaabi, who scored 5 goals in the 8 qualification games.

Croatia Team Info – A Team to Watch

Croatia qualified for the World Cup after winning Group H in the UEFA qualification groups. They had to face Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Russia. Out of the 10 matches that they played, Croatia won 7, drew 2 and lost only 1. They finished in first place, one point above Russia. Croatia had their best run in the 2018 World Cup. They won all their group matches and finished first in the group, ahead of Argentina. They then beat Denmark, Russia, and England, to reach the World Cup finals. There, Croatia lost the game, finishing in second place. In their very first World Cup, Croatia had a similar run. In 1998, they came second in their group, and then beat Romania and Germany to reach the semi finals. There, they were also beaten by France, and ended up in third place.

There is no doubt about the quality in the Croatian side, but critics may hint that the top players are ageing, and will be vulnerable to faster and more physical younger players. Domagoj Vida plays in defence alongside Dejan Lovren, and both are 33 years old. Luka Modric, who won the Ballon d'Or and is the Croatian captain, is 37 years old now, although he can rely on Mateo Kovacic, and Marcelo Brozovic in the midfield, who are 28 and 29. Their forwards include Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Bruno Petkovic, and Mislav Orsic.

Morocco vs Croatia Head-to-head

The two teams have only faced each other once, in a friendly. The match took place in 1996 and finished 2-2.

Morocco vs Croatia Betting Preview

Though there is not too much statistical information on what may happen between the two teams, you can rest assured that there is a huge selection of bets that you can pick from. Whether you think Morocco will win, or Croatia will hammer Morocco, you can find bets with long odds and win some big returns if you predict the right result. If you are slightly cautious, then you may prefer to bet on a team with handicaps that favour them, or try out bets such as double chance or draw no bet.

Draw No Bet

Draw no bet is a straightforward bet on which team will win between Morocco and Croatia. You do not need to worry about the game ending in a draw, as if it does, then your money will be returned to you.

Asian Handicaps

When you bet on a team to win with a handicap, you are betting on them to beat their opponents by a certain margin of goals or more. You will find a selection of negative numbers with increasing odds, and the one you pick will be subtracted from the score of your chosen team. You can also pick a positive handicap, which will be added to your chosen team’s score but these handicaps come with decreasing odds. There are three types of handicaps, and here is how they work.

Say you were to bet on the favourites, Croatia, with a handicap of -1.5. This will require Croatia to score at least 2 or more goals than Morocco for you to win your bet. If you bet on Croatia with a handicap of -2 then this will require Croatia to win the game by 3 or more goals. However, if Croatia only win by 2 goals then the scores will be level and you will be given a refund.

There will also be a handicap of -1.75 which cuts your stake in two and places half the money on a handicap of -1.5 and the other half on a handicap of -2. If you bet on Croatia with a handicap of -1.75 and they win the game by 3 or more goals then you will receive your full winnings. If they only beat Morocco by 2 goals, then the -1.5 half of your bet will pay in full whilst the -2 half of your bet will be refunded.

Over/Under Total Goals

You can bet on the number of goals Morocco and Croatia may or may not score during a game with total goals. Here, you will have to select a betting line and then bet on whether the game will end with over or under that number of goals. For example, if you think Morocco and Croatia will only score 1 or no goals, then you can bet on the game to end with under 1.5 goals. If you think that there will be many goals, you can bet on the game to end with 3.5 goals or more.

X Goal Sequence

This is a tricky bet as you will need to pick how many goals will be scored, the correct score, and the order in which the goals are scored. For example, you may bet on a four goal sequence, in which Croatia scores 2 and Morocco scores 2, and the sequence is Croatia/Morocco/Morocco/Croatia.

The expression for the order of the goals will be presented with H for Morocco and A for Croatia. So the example above would be A/H/H/A.

And Lots of More

You will find that the bets described here are but a few of the countless options you will have on the group match between Morocco and Croatia. There may be bets such as Croatia to score first, Morocco to win the first half, Croatia to score over 1.5 goals in the first half, Morocco to reverse the result, Croatia to keep a clean sheet, both teams to score, Croatia to lead after 30 minutes, and a lot of other similar types of bets.

When betting on the matches in the World Cup, you should always remember to bet responsibly. There are many matches that are played in rapid succession and we urge you to not be carried away and spend too much. If you need help or some advice on the topic, you can turn to organisations such as gambleaware.co.uk