10 Lowest-Ranked Teams At The 2018 World Cup

Morocco actually hold the distinct honour of being the first ever African team to win their World Cup group, having earned that achievement back in 1986. From there, the team struggled in the 1994 and 1998 tournaments and then failed to qualify for any of the last four World Cups. The round of 16 is the furthest they've ever gotten in the competition.

Hervé Renard, a specialist of international football, took the reigns back in 2016 and successfully guided the team through the qualification process. Renard has won the Africa Cup of Nations twice, with two different countries, and knows how to get results at big tournaments, but he and his squad will need to be at their absolute best this summer to escape a group that also contains Spain and Portugal.

Key men for the Morocco national team include the ever-reliable defender Medhi Benatia, who captains the country and also plays for Juventus, former Aston Villa midfielder Karim El Ahmadi, and Real Madrid's young defender Achraf Hakimi. But perhaps the most influential player on the pitch will be Ajax star Hakim Ziyech, a skillful attacking midfielder who already has 9 goals for the national side in just 18 appearances.