With every passing day, with every unlikely victory, even more impressive than the last, the love and admiration for the Moroccan national team rises to another level. They have done what generations of footballers from the continent could only fantasise about. The Atlas Lions are World Cup semi-finalists!Champs-Élysées in Paris filled with Morocco supporters. They may play France in the semis. pic.twitter.com/AQGcxB5VzT— Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) December 10, 2022 If anyone still credited Lady Luck for Moroccan results in Qatar, now is the time to stop and recognise. Led by Walid Regragui, this team has everything. Great, hungry players all over the pitch, pride and motivation, tactical know-how, confidence, fitness levels – you name it.Ten-man Morocco knock out out Portugal to become first African side to reach World Cup semifinalIt was another monster performance from Sofyan Amrabat, Bono, Romain Saiss, Ashraf Hakimi, Sofiane Boufal, Youssef En-Nesyri, the lot. Another clean sheet, another breathtaking goal and another mental and historic barrier broken.Coach Regragui lauded the battling spirit of his injury-hit side after securing the historic victory over the European big-shots.”We came up against a really great Portugal team. We’re drawing on all we have. We still have guys injured. I told the guys before the match we had to write history for Africa. I’m very, very happy.”Walid Regragui has done it again 🧠 pic.twitter.com/mhqqTV6QPq— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 10, 2022 These guys have done what Roger Milla, El Hadji Diouf, Didier Drogba, Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Michael Essien, Benni McCarthy, Mohamed Salah and Samuel Eto’o all failed to do. And do we need to tell you how absolutely delighted the people of Morocco are? Delighted crowds in Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, Fes, Marrakesh and other Moroccan cities lived through every kick, every header and every tackle made by their champions. And not only in the home country. Moroccan ex-pats celebrated all over the world. Tonight, the Parisian city centre was entirely taken over by ecstatic fans. It’s a fairy tale.Moroccan fans in Rabat have been draw in by the game (©AFP)Boufal, that was filthy! pic.twitter.com/3xZdoKejiR— coldmedinah (@coldmedinah) December 10, 2022 Magician Boufal, who plays his club football with Angers SCO in Ligue 1, won’t settle rest on his laurels. The tournament didn’t end. It’s quite the opposite.”It’s crazy. We’re living the dream and we don’t want to wake up. I have goosebumps. Everything we have, we deserve. We work hard. It’s not over. There’s still the semi-final and, god willing, the final.”
Morocco played five matches in Qatar – and nobody scored against them. The one goal they did concede, in the 2-1 win over Canada, was an own goal. Bono didn’t even concede a single goal in the penalty shoot-out success over Spain. We are witnessing something special.