Familiarity adds spice to Morocco-Netherlands last-32 clash
MONTERREY, Mexico: Star-laden Morocco and the Netherlands have the potential to produce a riveting Round of 32 tie at the World Cup, underpinned by a societal subtext that adds a healthy spice to the game in Monterrey on Monday. There is a large degree of familiarity, even if the countries have only played each other three times in the past, with Morocco having three Dutch-born players in their side and their top scorer here, Ismael Saibari, playing at PSV Eindhoven. Morocco have drawn extensively on Dutch expertise over the last decade to build a team which reached the semifinals at the last World Cup and have again impressed by finishing in second place behind Brazil in Group C but only on goal difference. Morocco amassed seven points, beating Scotland and Haiti, and played with more pressing intensity and intelligent movement to suggest they are going to be hard to overcome. “I’m not sure if we’re the favorites in the match against Morocco. It’s a good team with a lot of quality and they can score easily,” Dutch coach Ronald Koeman told reporters after his side topped Group F on Thursday with a win over Tunisia. The Netherlands started their World Cup campaign slowly with a draw against Japan but scored five versus Sweden and three against Tunisia and are also looking in good form. “There are players who love to get on the ball. I’ve got a group of lads that work really well together and have a great team spirit,” added Koeman, who was captain of the team when the Dutch beat Morocco at the 1994 World Cup in Orlando.