Morocco Making African History at the World Cup

Morocco Making African History

Morocco’s national football team continues to make history with their victory over Portugal in the Qatar World Cup 2022. They played early on Saturday and faced off against Portugal in the quarter finals. Portugal started the game with Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench, but after Youssef En-Nesyri scored a header just before the half, the 37 year old soccer star was subbed in minutes into the second half. Unfortunately for Portugal, Ronaldo was not enough for the win. They ended up losing 1-0 and their World Cup run ended. But for Morocco, they are making history as they become the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Morocco shocked the world twice coming out of the group stages. They defeated Spain in the round of 16 and now Portugal in the quarter finals. They were the under dogs in both matches.

Morocco’s World Cup 2022 success is extremely simple to predict. They just don’t abandon their defensive objectives. Through five games, the Moroccans have only let up one goal, an own goal. In this competition, no Moroccan opponent has scored.

Because of its strong defense, Morocco was able to draw with Croatia, and defeat Belgium and Canada in Group F to advance to the quarterfinals, making it just the fourth African nation to do so. Prior to Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010, Cameroon was the first team to reach the quarterfinals in 1990.

Additionally, it explains why Morocco poses a real challenge to potentially win this World Cup. Morocco defeated Portugal, which scored six goals against Switzerland, and Spain, which had scored seven goals against Costa Rica earlier. Morocco will ultimately face their toughest opponent yet in France, in the semifinals on Wednesday. Simply put, it’s proved impossible so far for teams with greater players and ostensibly more offensive potential to score against this Moroccan team.

Celebrations Across the Middle East and Africa

At the stadium during the Spain game, a Moroccan security man covered his face with his hands. There was a cheer heard in Casablanca, Cairo, Gaza City, Algiers, Riyadh, Sana, Paris, Turin, and even Madrid, Spain’s capital, which was expected to win not only this game, but possibly the entire tournament.

Instead, Morocco had triumphed, causing millions of people in Morocco and throughout the world to go into a lung-emptying, horn-tooting, flag-waving frenzy.

Their exuberant shouts were augmented by those of Arabs from the Middle East and elsewhere, whose Pan-Arab unity, if occasionally lacking or muted when it comes to political issues, has benefited from a string of unexpected victories by Arab nation teams this year.

Moroccans in Casablanca were still applauding one another on Sunday morning after having a good time all night.

Fans’ Reactions 

They grinned at one other and said, “Congratulations to us.” “Dima Maghreb!” — The rallying cry of Moroccan supporters is “Always Morocco.” The national song was sung as their parliament met on Wednesday.

Zoubida Boutaleb, a 40-year-old communications specialist in Casablanca and lifelong soccer supporter, stated, “My joy is indescribable. I’m still on cloud nine!”

Yassine “Bono” Bounou, the Moroccan goalie who stopped three Spanish penalty attempts on Tuesday, may have added to the joy for some supporters due to his Disney princess-like appearance.

Morocco is still hoping to become the first African country ever to win the World Cup. This year’s World Cup has been filled with many surprises, so we’ll soon see if they are able pull it off.

Written by Gabriel Salgado

ABC News: Again a substitute, Ronaldo’s World Cup comes to an end

The New York Times: Morocco Win Brings Cheers Heard Across Africa and the Middle East

The Washington Post: Morocco’s World Cup team represents a new era of soccer nationalism

Yahoo Sports: World Cup 2022: Morocco makes African history with 1-0 quarterfinal win over Portugal

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Inset Image Courtesy of fdecomite Flickr Page – Creative Commons License