All eyes will be on Romelu Lukaku when Belgium name their team to face Morocco at the World Cup today.
The forward, who is his country’s all-time leading goalscorer, missed the opening win over Canada with a thigh injury and has played just 29 minutes of competitive football since August.
Roberto Martinez has confirmed that Lukaku is far from available, but the clash with Morocco is likely to come too soon.
“Today Romelu trained with the rest of the group,” Martinez said on Thursday. “It was a test session, now we’ll see how his body reacts afterwards.
“I don’t think he will be ready to play against Morocco, but we will find out in the next two days.”
Martinez could be tempted to reshuffle his pack after a poor performance against Canada, with Thomas Meunier a likely candidate to replace Yannick Carrasco. Amadou Onana is also pushing for a place in the starting line-up.
Morocco are sweating on the fitness of Bayern Munich left-back Noussair Mazraoui after he was forced off against Croatia with a hip injury and landed awkwardly.
The result is a serious doubt and should he miss out it will likely be Yahya Attiat-Allah who comes into the side.
Abdessamad Ezzalzoul has a hamstring injury and is expected to miss out, but other than that there are no real concerns for Morocco as they look for another positive result after holding Croatia to a draw.
Hakim Ziyech had a number of bright moments in this match, particularly in the first half, and Morocco will rely on the Chelsea winger to cause an aging Belgium backline problems.
Predicted Belgium XI (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Dendoncker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Meunier, Tielemans, Witsel, Castagne; De Bruyne, Hazard; Batshuayi
Predicted Morocco XI (4-2-3-1): Bounou; Hakimi, Saiss, Aguerd, Attiat-Allah; Amrabat, Ounahi; Ziyech, Amallah, Boufal; En-Nesyri
