World Cup 2022: Group F preview - Belgium, Canada, Croatia & Morocco

Group F at the 2022 World Cup consists of Belgium, Canada, Croatia and Morocco.

Here we take a look at the four nations and rate their chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds.

Here is our preview of Group F.

Belgium

Manager: Roberto Martinez

Star Player: Kevin de Bruyne

Historical Best Performance at a World Cup: Third Place in 2018

All eras must come to an end, even the golden ones. The problem with this Belgian Golden Era coming to its climax is that there hasn’t been a tangible return for a group of players that really should have gotten one.

They were unlucky in Russia as they were just edged out by France in a competitive game. But 2014, 2016 and 2020, they really should have done better than what they offered.

Romelu Lukaku, while great in their qualifying stages, has failed to really impose himself in the big moments for his country. He has two goals in the knockout stages of both the Euros and World Cup, one off the bench against the USA after losing his place in the team and the other a penalty against Italy in a game they would lose. In order to be successful, the on-loan Chelsea No.9 will need to do something when they get there. Kevin De Bruyne will need to be at his best as well and Roberto Martinez should put him in the best position to do that, rather than the deeper role he continually tries to shoehorn him into.

Will Eden Hazard have a swansong to what has been a sorry end of his career? Who knows.

Right now, it looks like Belgium will come up short again which will leave this talented group without the success to back up their ability.

Canada

Manager: John Herdman

Star Player: Alphonso Davies

Historical Best Performance at a World Cup: Group Stage in 1986

Canada are coming into their own golden era now. Within the qualifying stages for this World Cup, they racked up an impressive 14 wins in 20 games. To put that into context, that is the same amount of wins they got in the last three qualifying rounds cumulatively (in 30 games).

They have been managed to this success by John Herdman, an Englishman from the northeast of England. He started coaching in his formative years at university but the lack of opportunity that presented itself here, due to his lack of playing career, made him not only move to New Zealand but do so to coach in the women’s game. He would do well with them and it would attract Canada to appoint him for their women’s team. He did such a good job, he got a crack with the men.

He is the one presiding over the talents of Alphonso Davies, who plays left wing for his country, and Jonathan David, who no doubt will have to perform well if Canada are to make any sort of waves in this competition. It is highly unlikely though. This is an incredibly hard group but managing to get a goal and possibly a win would be better than their only other appearance at a World Cup.

Croatia

Manager: Zlatko Dalic

Star Player: Luka Modric

Historical Best Performance at a World Cup: Runners Up in 2018

A country with less than half the population of London (four million compared to nine million respectively) have a rich history of producing footballers that are well respected across the world. They almost managed to rubber-stamp that with a World Cup but were beaten by an efficient French team in the final. It was a competition of two halves for them – convincingly going through their group with three wins yet being taken to extra time in all three knockout games prior to the final.

The problem that Croatia now face is that their quality is very much in the middle of the park, whether it be with defensive, central or attacking midfielders. They also have some sort of depth in the wider areas but the rest is not quite matching. Josko Gvardiol is going to be an odd fit because his best position is left of a back three but Croatia play better in a back four so will he be LB or LCB in a two? If it’s LB, then it might be Lovren and Vida, a combined age of 66, at the heart of defence.

With Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Mateo Kovacic, Mario Pasalic and Lovro Majer, they have a great choice to potentially protect that backline by possessing the ball. However, they might be blunt. Mislav Orsic and Ivan Perisic would add some incision.

Likely, they will make it out but I don’t think they will enjoy a deep run like they did four years ago.

Morocco

Manager: Walid Regragui

Star Player: Achraf Hakimi

Historical Best Performance at a World Cup: Round of 16 in 1986

If there is a Morocco team that could cause a stir, then this is the one to do it. It is a hard group when you consider that one of Belgium and Croatia will have to be usurped in order to get through to the knockout stages. But you can just look at the talent list and be impressed with who it includes.

Of course, their star man Achraf Hakimi will stand out to many straight away. His free-kick ability was on show at the last AFCON but then you see that they also have Noussair Mazraoui, recently moved to Bayern Munich. Nayef Aguerd, also recently moved to West Ham, will hope to be fit enough to contribute to this team. Romain Saiss, the captain and now at Besiktas after leaving Wolves, is there also. Sofyan Amrabat, Younes Belhanda (remember him?), Amine Harit, Hakim Ziyech, Munir, Sofiane Boufal and Youssef En-Neysri are names that will be known on the continent as well.

This is without looking at the upcoming youngsters like Imran Louza, Abde Ezzalzouli and Zakaria Aboukhlal.

It is a deep squad so they will expectations on them to at least perform capably if they are not to make it out the group. They will be the ones to watch as potential dark horses if they do qualify from Group F.