Some will say that the World Cup is not the best ground for scouting players, that three to seven games is too small a sample to test someone’s quality, and that in such a small time frame anyone can perform quite well. However, few can remain indifferent to the four games played by Sofyan Amrabat in Qatar.Both in Doha and at home, the Moroccan celebrates their heroes. But also throughout Europe. Yasinne Bounou for lowering the ramp for the Spaniards and taking them into history, Achraf Hakimi for spicing up the fairytale evening with that ‘panenka’ penalty, Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd for forming an impenetrable wall, artists Hakim Ziyech and Sofyan Boufal for painting every action of the Atlas Lions with a brush, and Walid Regragui, who put everything together perfectly. However, in the last two weeks, since seeing him for the first time in Qatar, the football world has admired Sofyan Amrabat, in the opinion of many, one of the best players of the tournament.##NAJAVA_MECA_6874287##Those who follow football a little more closely should have heard of him, because he does not come to the World Cup from Moroccan Widad or Raja Casablanca. He has been performing in Serie A for four years, three of which in the Fiorentina shirt, but until this November, no major club noticed him. Well, except for Antonio Conte. And again, let’s go back to that “tax on the World Cup”, Athletic wrote just a few days ago about the fact that the players who shine so brightly on the planetary tournament are actually big gambles, i.e. that they rarely justify the money allocated for them, mostly immediately after the end of the World Cup. As one example, Athletic cited a part of Michael Calvin’s book on scouting, where Brentford owner Matthew Benham recalled Michael Bradley’s transfer from Moenchengladbach to Aston Villa after the World Cup in South Africa.”Four games is a small, tiny sample. Anyone can be very good or terrible. Perhaps most important of all, those four games in South Africa the USA played against England, Slovenia, Algeria and Ghana. England is a proper opponent, but the other teams they were at the level of the Championship,” said Benham.However, in Sofyan’s case the situation is somewhat different. Amrabat gave some of the best performances of this year’s World Cup against not only inferior teams of Qatar, Wales and Canada but against the vice-champion of the world – Croatia, the second-best-ranked national team on the planet – Belgium and one of the favorites to win the World Cup – Spain.Hakim Ziyech: From a retiree to being part of Morocco’s history makersMorocco’s main asset is its strong defense. Regragui’s team conceded only one goal in the World Cup so far (an own goal by Nayef Aguerd), less than any other team in the tournament. However, the credit does not go exclusively to the four in the back line (Achraf Hakimi, Romain Saiss, Nayef Aguerd and Noussair Mazraoui) and Yassine Bounou between the posts. No less deserving is the man in front of them, Sofyan Amrabat, the cornerstone of Regragui’s team. Moroccan impenetrable wall in front of a wall. Yesterday he plowed the pitch at the Education City Stadium and finished the match with 14.68 kilometers (48.1 in the entire tournament, the most in the team). He won all seven duels on the ground, took away nine balls, had a 100% sliding tackle percentage (4/4) and created that massive chance to Walid Cheddira. All this even though he was questionable to come out on the field until the last minute.”I’m very emotional. My back problem? It was a question of whether I would even be able to play the game. I stayed up until three last night with the physio, I had an injection before the game. I couldn’t leave these guys and my country,” revealed Amrabat after the match and cried in front of the cameras.##EDITORS_CHOICE##In the group stage, Amrabat was the Moroccan footballer with the most intercepted passes and turnovers forced, as well as the most successful passes, only to show that he is not unfamiliar with the ball either.”He is our first attacker and first defender. I went to Florence to tell him that my World Cup plans depend on him. If his last name was not Amrabat, he would already be in a top club,” Regragui praised him during the group stage.And he wasn’t the only one. The Italian Gazette described him in one word – “The Wall”, and the French L’Equipe established that the 26-year-old Moroccan “has three lungs”. He showed that yesterday. Tireless for the entire 120 minutes, he ran from Pedri to Gavi and vice versa, closing and the smallest hole when the Spanish midfielders thought they had found it.”There were moments when Morocco seemed to be playing with 15 players on the field. He was everywhere. In the center, left, right, pressing and in extra time when several of his players were stiff with cramps. Sofyan Amrabat especially shone this Tuesday at Education City stadium, where he lectured everyone in the midfield. The player around whom the Moroccan team revolves produced a great performance. His spectacular physical display from the 1st to the 120th minute was a headache for the players of La Furia Roja. Ask Busquets, for example,” Spanish Mundo stated.Sofyan Amrabat’s game by numbers vs Spain:49 touches9 ball recoveries7 duels won6 possession won in final ⅓4 tackles1 interception1 clearance Performance of the tournament? 🔥#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/itR8KCWjVc— Squawka (@Squawka) December 6, 2022 And not only Busquets. The Moroccan beast also “ate up” much younger, more physically fit footballers Gavi and Pedri, and earlier during the tournament Kevin de Bruyne, Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic… Fans joke on social media that he even accompanied the Spaniards to the airport. Sofyan is the reason why no one of those stars played much football at this tournament.Now he is waiting for the transfer window. And although the sporting director of Fiorentina, Daniele Prade, points out that they plan to keep the African at Artemio Franchi and even extend his contract, it is unlikely that they will succeed in their intention. Sofyan’s older brother Nordin, a former Moroccan national team player, points out that he was close to leaving Florence last January.”I am proud of Sofyan. He was close to Tottenham in the summer, but there was no agreement. Now the teams that want him will have to line up,” concluded the elder Amrabat brother. We would not add anything more. Let’s wait for January. Liverpool is reportedly already taken their place in line.Sofyan Amrabat vs. Spain pic.twitter.com/n8lKrKAGb9— Wydad Comps (@WydadComps) December 6, 2022
