EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey, June 14 (Reuters) - For ⁠a teenager playing a first competitive international, Ayyoub Bouaddi looked completely at home as Morocco more ⁠than matched Brazil in their opening World Cup outing on Saturday.

The 18-year-old carried an imperious air ‌as he moved relentlessly across the pitch, constantly looking for work in an eye-catching midfield performance that helped the North Africans hold the five-time world champions to a 1-1 draw in their Group C clash.

Frequently he would surge forward, the ball stuck to his feet and ​defenders bouncing off him, in an impressive display of power. The post-match ⁠statistics had him making more touches (86) than ⁠any of his teammates and with over 90% passing accuracy.

He has been a rising star for some while now ⁠at ‌Lille in Ligue 1 and it is no wonder the Moroccans relentlessly pursued trying to persuade the French-born prodigy to switch international allegiance.

FIFA only approved the change on May 15 and Saturday’s clash was ⁠just the fourth cap for Bouaddi -- the first three for Morocco coming ​in their World Cup warm-up matches ‌over the past three weeks.

Coach Mohamed Ouahbi made a bold choice in bringing him into an ⁠already well-established squad and ​starting Bouaddi against Brazil and afterwards could not hide his delight: “We knew what a quality player he was and that’s why we had many meetings to get him to choose to play for Morocco,” he told reporters.