World Cup: Morocco's Hakimi up against country of his birth

DOHA – Achraf Hakimi was born in Madrid but will have little hesitation plotting Spain’s downfall when Morocco take on the 2010 World Cup winners on Tuesday.

The flying wing-back is one of the key players in the North African outfit, whose last-16 match against Spain at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan gives them a chance to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.

He could even have been on the opposite side, as he was called up when still a teenager for Spain’s age-group teams.

“I felt it was not the right place for me, I did not feel at home. It was not for anything in particular, but it was not how I lived at home, which is the Arab culture, being Moroccan,” he told Spain’s Marca newspaper.

Hakimi’s father was a vendor on the streets of Madrid and his mother cleaned houses.

Their son was signed by Real Madrid at the age of seven, broke through to the first team, went to Borussia Dortmund on loan and won Serie A with Inter Milan. He now plays alongside Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe at Paris Saint-Germain.

And he is still only 24 years old.

It will not be the first time he plays against Spain. Hakimi was in the side that almost beat them in Kaliningrad in 2018, before an injury-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw at the 2018 edition in Russia.

“Four years of experience since have meant I’ve come with a more mature mentality,” he said.

“Spain are a top-five team and always come to the World Cup to win. But our coach has also taught us to have a winning mentality; it doesn’t matter who we are up against. We are going to try to play our way and try to beat them.

“We finished first in the group and I think we deserve a little respect. I think that Spain know that and that they have to be a little afraid of us. And why can’t we pull off a surprise again?“

Midfielder Gavi is definitely not underestimating Spain’s southern neighbours. The 2022 winner of the Golden Boy award for the best Under-21 player told Marca: “What I expect is a very tough game...

“Morocco were better than Croatia and Belgium in the groups, and they are two teams of the highest level. What more can be said?”

Spain forward Alvaro Morata, meanwhile, said La Roja’s second-half collapse which saw them lose 2-1 to Japan in their final first-round match and finish second in Group E could prove a welcome wake-up call.

The 30-year-old, who has three goals and an assist at Qatar 2022, told AS: “Sometimes it’s not so bad that something like this happens, because when you see everything clearly…

“What you have to think about is that the failure occurred when there was still a chance to remedy it, in the group stage.”

For Morocco coach Walid Regragui, though, every match at Qatar 2022 a “final”.

He said: “I told the players before the World Cup, we’re playing only finals here. We’ve played three finals in the group phase and now it’s our fourth final...

“We have to accept that Spain will have possession... Our plan is that they don’t know what to do with the ball.”

His counterpart Luis Enrique, meanwhile, is convinced that even if Spain do not know what to do with the ball, they will know what to do if the game goes to a penalty shoot-out.

He said: “Over a year ago, we told players, ‘You have homework ahead of the World Cup. You must take at least 1,000 penalties with the club’. You can’t just train them when they’re with the national team’.

“I don’t think it’s a lottery. If you train often, then the way you take penalties improves. Obviously, you can’t train the pressure and tension, but you can cope with it.

“It doesn’t depend on luck, the goalkeeper is key in the shoot-out. All three of our ’keepers are good at them.” REUTERS, AFP