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Rabat – Morocco’s national futsal team faces Thailand in the second round of the group stage of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021. A crucial match pitting Morocco – the world’s 16th – against Thailand – the world’s 18th.
After a 6-0 win against the Solomon Islands – the first in the history for the national squad in the World Cup – in the opening game, the Atlas Lions look forward to securing their spot in the quarter-finals by beating the Southeast Asian team today, September 16 at 6 p.m. local time.
Following a loss to Portugal, Morocco’s next opponent, Thailand, will be looking to bounce back and to give themselves a last chance. Therefore, the national squad should face off against a team that has nothing to lose.
In a statement to FIFA’s official website, Morocco’s team manager Hicham Dguig described Thailand as “ a solid team. Futsal is extremely popular there [Thailand], they run a lot of futsal competitions at club and national-team levels. They have a professional league. Futsal is very developed in their country and their national team is one of the best in the world.”
Morocco’s task against Thailand won’t be easy, especially since the team’s main attacking asset, Achraf Saoud, will be sidelined with an injury sustained in the opening match. The player missed over a week of training last August due to a similar injury.
In turn, Thailand’s coach Rakphol Sainetngarm hailed Morocco’s improvement. “They are a good and strong team and have good movements,” said Rakphol. “We must be well-prepared. We must be careful and not make too many mistakes, particularly in defense.”
“This is an important game. We hope to get three points although it won’t be easy,” he noted.
Morocco is competing in their third Futsal World Cup, after losing all six games in the previous two world championships during 2012 and 2016.
