Brozovic, Kovacic start for Croatia v Morocco

AL KHOR, Qatar : Croatia midfielders Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic will both start their World Cup Group F opener at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday after overcoming injury issues.

Kovacic is available for the 2018 runners-up despite struggling with a knee injury recently, while Brozovic played 70 minutes in their final warm-up game, allaying fears about his involvement at the tournament.

Morocco defender Nayef Aguerd starts despite making only one league appearance this season for his club West Ham United.

Croatia, who were beaten by France in the final four years ago, are making their sixth World Cup appearance, having either been eliminated in the group stages or at least reached the semi-finals (1998, 2018).

Teams:

Morocco: Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui, Sofyan Amrabat, Nayef Aguerd, Romain Saiss, Hakim Ziyech, Azzedine Ounahi, Selim Amallah, Soufiane Boufal, Youssef En-Nesyri.

Croatia: Dominik Livakovic, Ivan Perisic, Dejan Lovren, Mateo Kovacic, Andrej Kramaric, Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Nikola Vlasic, Borna Sosa, Josko Gvardiol, Josip Juranovic.