Everton’s Amadou Onana has come a long way in a short space of time and 21-year-old’s steep learning curve continued in Belgium’s 2-0 defeat to Morocco as he picked up a second yellow card of the World Cup which will leave him suspended for their final group game with Croatia.
Having impressed as a half-time substitute in what was otherwise a largely underwhelming 1-0 victory over Canada with Nieuwsblad back in him homeland proclaiming “what a power”, the Blues midfielder was handed a start in central midfield against the North Africans for what was only his fourth cap to date.
It was a bold move from Belgium’s former Everton manager Roberto Martinez as he brought the international rookie into the engine room at the expense of Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans, a far more experienced performer at this level with 56 appearances for the Red Devils and five international goals. When the pair went head to head at Goodison Park on Bonfire Night, the older man clearly had the edge, opening the scoring with a magnificently-struck effort in front of the Gwladys Street in first half stoppage time while the youngster was forced off through injury just after the hour mark but while the pair occupy the same area of the pitch, they offer rather different qualities.
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After making his first start for Everton after a £33.5million move from Lille, against Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup three months ago, Frank Lampard said of Onana : “He showed his physicality and stood up to things, did some good passes, showed good aggression and good attitude plus a bit of quality driving through as the game went on which is a big quality of his.
“With young players you have to be a bit patient and I want to work with him. As a midfield player I can see things from the sidelines that I can help him with and his team-mates can help him with but we need to get there pretty quickly because he’s a big player for the future.”
Onana, the Premier League leader in his position for both aerial and offensive duels won, offers an increased level of physicality and while that can take the game to the opposition, it can also get him into trouble, especially at the moment when he is still relatively green. With seven of the starting 11 against Morocco already in their 30s, Belgium’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’ who were looking to secure a tournament record ninth consecutive victory in the group stage, are by now relatively long in the tooth in football terms so the youthful exuberance and energy levels that the Blues player brings provides a much-needed boost to their energy levels.
There had already been an 18 th minute foul on Sofiane Boufal from Onana before Mexican referee Cesar Arturo Ramos handed the Everton man his second booking of the competition on 29 minutes for catching Azzedine Ounahi in an aerial challenge. Given his body shape, Onana is going to have to learn the same kind of lessons as another Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini, who arrived at Goodison Park at a similar age when it comes to keeping control of those flailing elbows as his previous yellow card was for an almost identical offence against Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio.
Although he maintained his discipline after this setback, there were still more lessons to be learned. With Onana patrolling the back post, Morocco had the ball in the Belgium net at the front post two minutes into first half stoppage time when a free-kick was curled in by Hakim Ziyech but a VAR check deemed that captain Romain Saiss who was standing in an offside position but did not touch the cross-shot was impeding goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’ line of vision.
Then on 52 minutes, Onana did win a header from a corner but nodded over with veteran centre-back Jan Vertonghen behind him, claiming he was in a better position. Then, predictably, came the hook on the hour mark as Tielemans entered the fray and BBC Sport’s Jemaine Jenas remarked of Onana, “He’s disappointed but I don’t think he’s been quite good enough today on the ball, he’s not taken enough risks with his passing, he’s been too safe.”
It’s ‘ifs, buts and maybes’ whether Onana’s physical presence and aerial ability could have made any difference when another Morocco free-kick from out wide caught Belgium out again with substitute Abdelhamid Sabiri’s delivery going past Courtois with Saiss lurking once more but this time not penalised. With the Belgians chasing an equaliser, the sucker punch of a second Moroccan goal from another sub Zakaria Aboukhlal arrived on the counter attack in stoppage time and forced to watch from the sidelines next time out, Onana – who Laura Georges said was the only player in his side asking for the ball – must hope there’s another game in the knockout stages for him to return to.
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