The FIFA Fan Fest Finale: The First African Team to win a Group at a Football Tournament and an African Football Player to Play at the World Cup
The first African team to win a group at a soccer tournament is the team that advanced to the round of 16.
The game’s only goal came just before halftime in the 42nd minute when Morocco’s Yahya Attiat-Allah lofted a ball in front of the Portugal goal and Youssef En-Nesyri soared high and headed it down past the keeper. En-Nesyri is the first Moroccan player to score at two World Cups.
At the FIFA Fan Fest in Doha, thousands of fans squeezed in to watch the game on an outdoor big screen TV. They cheered when the players touched the ball. As the game ended, Tarig Saad was gleeful. He is from Sudan and lives in Saudi Arabia. He drove ten hours to get to Doha.
“Being an Arab I’m very proud. “Because of our love for football,” he said. He said top European rosters are filled with African players. “As individuals we are as skillful. We can do anything.”
Morocco world cup history team profile: Portugal versus Qatar in a match played by a 27-year-old star at the end of the tournament
For a second match in a row, the star of Portugal started on the bench. The 37-year-old is one of the finest to ever play the sport but the aging star hasn’t been his usual dominant self at this tournament (he hasn’t scored a single goal). His replacement didn’t make too much of a difference. Ronaldo was substituted into the game in the 51st minute. He wiped away tears while walking off the field after the game.
The dancing teams in the World Cup find their rhythm and joy when they are under pressure. The dream of the players of Morocco has been surpassed only by their run in Qatar.
“We had a dream, of course,” team captain Romain Saiss said. “Dreaming is free. We can dream. To do it after is different. We put a lot of energy in each game, it is hard, but at the end it is so good.
The 1-0 win over Portugal “is a story from the stories I heard about the nights of the One Thousand and One Nights,” one jubilant fan said in a TV interview. He said, “Today I lived the dream.” “Thank you, toQatar, I appreciate you,” he said.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/13/1142278928/morocco-world-cup-history-team-profile
Moroccan World Cup Team Profile: A Story of One Goalkeeper, Two Shots, and Two Subs Including the Goalkeeper Assine Bounou
Morocco’s back line is anchored by Achraf Hakimi, a versatile defender who was born in Spain and plays professionally for the famed French club Paris Saint-Germain. Kylian Mbapp said earlier this year that Hakimi is the best right-back on the planet.
They are goalkeepers and they’re known as, “Yassine Bounou.” Bono, has been clutch, making 39 saves so far, according to FIFA. Crucially, he saved two of the three penalty shots taken by Spain, after the two sides finished play 0-0.
The team has shown it can win in a variety of ways, from defensive battles to creating opportunities through play and winning a penalty shootout.
“When you watch the World Cup, you want to support us because of our commitment and hard work,” Regragui said, according to Agence France-Presse.
Morocco has absorbed punishment from athletes all while refusing to lose like the boxer portrayed in the movie by Sylvester Stallone. Also like Rocky, the team is showing the toll that effort requires.
Several key players have suffered injuries in Qatar, including the captain Saiss, 32, who left the match with Portugal on a stretcher, with an apparent hamstring problem. Others hurt include center back Nayef Aguerd, 26, whose injury has been reported as being to his thigh or his knee, and Noussair Mazraoui.
Morocco’s performance has stunned the soccer world, particularly after the national team lost Amine Harit, a talented attacking midfielder. Harit was seriously injured just before the World Cup began while playing for OlympiqueMarseille, a pro team.
There are many people who carry the load in Harit’s absence, including the player who crossed through the sky to head in the winner against Portugal, and the player who has been carrying the load for several years.
The 29-year-old attacking midfield player, named Hakim, has stepped up on defense and disrupting opponents while putting eight shots on goal and serving 20 crosses and 20 crosses according to the game’s statistics.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/13/1142278928/morocco-world-cup-history-team-profile
Born in Mozambican: The Soccer Legend of a World Cup Winner. The Case of the Netherlands’s José Faria Young Player
The 1986 Morocco team was trained by the Brazilian Jose Faria, who was their coach, to ensure they were a unit that was ready to play in the heat of Mexico. They trained in Mexico for 40 days. The squad left when West Germany won.
The MPI reported that 17 of the 23 players in the last World Cup were born abroad. The Sport and Nation research project showed that 16 of the 23 athletes on Algeria’s World Cup team were born in France.
It’s not unusual for a player to represent a country in which they weren’t born. More than 12% of the athletes at the World Cup in 1936 wore national colors that were different from their country of birth.
The numbers show a reversal. European countries that for decades made it a priority to include elite players who had roots in former colonies are now seeing players choose to represent their homeland even if they are not born in Europe.
Morocco’s stunning victory over Portugal takes on even more significance in that light. Portugal achieved its best ever finish at the World Cup, third place, in 1966 with the help of several players who were born in colonial Mozambique, including Eusbio da Silva Ferreira.
Aiding the shift toward ancestral countries is a 2004 FIFA rules change making it easier for eligible players to switch their national team affiliation even if they’ve already played for one country’s national youth squad. That is what happened to the Dutch youth team player, who decided to helprocco bring a World Cup dream into reality.