Kevin Doyle: Ireland can take inspiration from Morocco

Former Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle believes the Boys in Green can take plenty of lessons from the way in which Morocco have performed at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The Atlas Lions became the first African side to reach the last-four in the tournament's history on Saturday and reigning champions France stand between them and an unprecedented appearance in a World Cup final.

Walid Regragui's side have been outstanding defensively, conceding just once - an own goal in the 2-1 win over Canada - and holding the likes of Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Portugal scoreless. Additionally, only Costa Rica have had less of the ball than Morocco during the tournament.

But they have also offered a threat further forward on the counter-attack but not by relying primarily on long balls, with technical talents like Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal and their full-backs Achraf Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui helping them play through the thirds at speed.

While previewing the upcoming semi-finals on the RTÉ Soccer World Cup Podcast, ex-Wolves and Reading centre-forward Doyle discussed what the Irish side can glean from watching the Moroccans.

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"Take inspiration from people like Morocco," he said.

"You go through a list of their players and you go through a list of Ireland's players, much of a muchness in all of them.

"Just because we mightn't have the players, you need to get more than the sum of their parts. I don't think we've managed to get more than the sum of the parts of the Ireland players for a