Netherlands vs Morocco: FIFA World Cup Round of 32: Prediction, team news
A rare meeting of the top 10 ranked teams sees Morocco take on the Netherlands in the round of 32 in Monterrey, Mexico. Five wins
A rare meeting of the top 10 ranked teams sees Morocco take on the Netherlands in the round of 32 in Monterrey, Mexico. Five wins to go. How can your team reach the final and win World Cup 2026? Click here. Who: Netherlands vs Morocco What: FIFA World Cup 2026 – round of 32 Where: Monterrey Stadium, Mexico When: Monday, June 29, at 7pm (01:00 GMT, Tuesday) How to follow: We will have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 22:00 GMT before our live text commentary stream. The Netherlands take on Morocco in a clash of two in-form, top-10-ranked sides in Monday’s round of 32 blockbuster at Monterrey, Mexico. Both star-studded teams produced impressive performances in the group stage, laying down a marker of their attacking threat. The Dutch have a strong knockout record of late, having progressed from seven of their last 10 World Cup knockout matches since 2010. But as history has shown, African champions Morocco are capable of pulling off epic upsets – the most famous of them all was upstaging Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the quarterfinals at Qatar 2022. While the teams are not exactly familiar foes, there is a large degree of shared ties, with Morocco having three Dutch-born players on their side and their top scorer, Ismael Saibari, playing in the Dutch league. Here is all there is to know about the Netherlands-Morocco knockout tie How did the Netherlands reach the round of 32? The Netherlands were held to a 2-2 draw by Japan in their opening game of the tournament before they thrashed Sweden 5-1 in the second match.
They wrapped up the first round with a 3-1 win over Tunisia, confirming their top spot in Group F. Of the 10 goals the Dutch registered across three games, Brian Bobby bagged three, while Crysencio Summerville and Cody Gakpo scored two each. Virgil van Dijk and Jan Paul van Hecke scored a goal apiece, too, while Denzel Dumfries and Ryan Gravenberch bagged two assists each. Morocco clash has ‘come too soon’: Dutch coach Koeman While Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman expects a thriller in Monterrey, he believes the fixture has come too early for the teams, both of whom are tipped to have a deep run in North America. “It’s a big thing for this game to take place now because we are both teams that ought to go further than this stage,” Koeman said. “It’s a very important match between two teams that want to go as far as possible in the tournament, and a match of this nature comes a little too soon at the World Cup, I would say.” Nonetheless, Koeman asserted that his FIFA world-ranked No 7 team will adopt an attacking approach against Morocco, ranked one place higher at six, as both look to stay alive in the race for football’s greatest prize. How did Morocco reach the round of 32? Morocco started their campaign by holding Brazil to a 1-1 draw before they beat Scotland 1-0 in the next match day. A 4-2 win over Haiti in their final group game confirmed their second-place finish in Group C, below Brazil, on goal difference. Ismael Saibari accounted for three of Morocco’s six goals scored in the group stage, while Soufiane Rahimi, Achraf Hakimi and Gessime Yassine also got a goal each.
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