A day after two of the worst sides left in the World Cup got the tournament’s knockout stages under way in Los Angeles, two of the game’s top 10 will clash in Mexico for a spot in the last 16.Little wonder then that Mohamed Ouahbi, the Morocco head coach, said the 48-team format was “not ideal”.Unbeaten in three group games, including a draw with Brazil, Morocco’s reward is a meeting with the Netherlands, a match-up that pits teams ranked six and seven in the world against each other in Monterrey for a match that starts at 9am on Tuesday, Hong Kong time.“Other big teams are facing small fry,” one Moroccan journalist lamented at a press conference where there was standing room only by the time Ouahbi and his goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou, took their seats.One of the most keenly anticipated second-round matches of this tournament will happen 30 years to the day that a Dutch side captained by current boss Ronald Koeman beat Morocco 2-1 in a World Cup group game, when anything other than that outcome would have qualified as a surprise.Morocco fans gather in Monterrey’s Macroplaza ahead of their side’s game against the Netherlands. Photo: APThe Morocco of today are a far more competitive and talented proposition. This contest, in the words of Bounou, is “a clash of the titans”, lent extra spice by the close ties between the countries.