Morocco Qatar 2022 Semi-final In numbers
How did Morocco become the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final? Fewer shots, better chances, and a defence that got stronger as its opponents did. I analysed free match data from all 64 games to find out.
Atlas Lions
Seven matches, one semi-final.
Three group games, four knockouts. Tap any match to see every shot its opponent took.
Fewer shots, better chances.
Spain and Portugal out-shot Morocco. Switch to xG, which measures how likely each shot was to score, and the picture flips.
Defending the box.
Every shot Morocco's opponents took. In the knockouts they often reached the box, but mostly for low-quality chances. Spain and Portugal took 24 shots combined and scored none.
Loading shots…
Tap a dot to see who shot, when, and what happened.
Beating the odds.
En-Nesyri scored 2 goals from 1.05 xG. Ziyech scored from 10 shots worth only 0.31 xG. As a team, Morocco scored – goals from – xG.
Stronger when it got harder.
xG per shot conceded measures how dangerous the average shot against Morocco was. In the group stage, Morocco ranked only 28th of 32 teams. Against Spain, Portugal, France and Croatia, it dropped sharply.
Over all 7 matches (0.095), Morocco ranked 5th of the 8 teams that played 5 or more matches, almost level with Argentina (0.094) and England (0.093).
Group-stage figures rest on just 20 shots, so treat single matches with care.
The run, measured.
- Better chances per shot than Spain, round of 16
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- Goals Spain and Portugal scored from their shots
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- Goals Morocco scored
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- World Cup matches analysed
- 64