Morocco anticipates World Cup quarter final against Portugal

DOHA. The 2022 World Cup was built for such a scenario. An Arab national team is playing a historic World Cup quarter final match in the first tournament in the Middle East and the Arab world.

The stage is set. Everybody is ready—players, coaches, fans – a whole nation. Morocco will play Portugal on Saturday.

Despite matches involving two of the competition's biggest contenders on Friday - Brazil and Argentina - the heart of the tournament beats for the Atlas Lions.

Since their penalty shootout victory against Spain on Tuesday, Qatar and the Arab population of Qatar has adopted Morocco as the new ‘home team’ of the tournament.

Souq Waqif is the centre of events and celebrations. Moroccan flags are waved from cars, in shops, and on terraces. It is safe to say that Qatar is in a Moroccan mania.

This isn't exclusive to Doha. In Morocco, the country has been anticipating the game since Tuesday. TV shows are replaying the penalties over and over again, and no one is talking about anything besides football.

And it’s significant. The national team has qualified for the quarter finals for the first time - the first Arab country to reach this stage of the tournament.

A photo is better than 1000 words#MAR #FIFAWorldCup #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/GTo6jD3ZqT
— BabaGol (@BabaGol_) December 6, 2022

The quiet stars

It all goes back to the field, where the team's big heart and sacrifice has paved the way to this unique achievement.

Before the tournament, everyone spoke about Hakim Ziyech, Achraf Hakimi and Nouseir Mazraoui, but now there are new heroes. Yassin Bonou, Sofyan Amrabat and Azzedine Ounahi.

"We were stunned by number eight. I don't remember his name," said Luis Enrique, Spain's coach, after their last 16 encounter that saw his team fail to score a single penalty and ultimately lost him his job.

"It was Ounahi", one of the journalists said. "Madre mia... where did this guy come from? He had a really good game! [He] surprised me a lot because Hakimi is well-known, Ziyech is well-known, En-Nesiri we know very well as he plays in Spain, Amrabat we know him, and he plays very well, but [Ounahi] didn't stop running. We didn't know what to do with him, and he surprised us. He is an exceptional player. Good luck to Morocco".

Ounahi hasn’t just impressed Luis Enrique, he is one of the rising stars of the competition.

After he and Amrabat diminished Pedri, Gavi and Busquets, now the expectation is for them to do the same to Portugal's hottest team in the competition.

سوق واقف، الليلة.

סוק וואקף. מרכז העצבים של הקהל הערבי במונדיאל הזה, היה אש הלילה pic.twitter.com/WD6x98WQld
— Uri Levy (@Levyninho) December 6, 2022

Another kind of derby

In their journey in Qatar, Morocco had already played and won against two European teams in what could be considered derby games.

Belgium, with its Moroccan population and players of Moroccan origin, and Spain, which colonised parts of Morocco, and is still in ex-territorial control of Mellia and Ceuta.

Next comes Portugal who, in the same way as Spain, reminds the north Africans of the days of Al Andalus, and the Islamic Caliphate in the Iberian Peninsula.

"We can go and try and win the World Cup", said coach Oualid Regragui in a post-match interview. "Yes it will be difficult, but we are already here and we can dream".

Come Saturday, all eyes, from Casablanca to Doha and throughout Europe, will be on the defence.

Naif Aguerd is injured, Romain Saïs is in doubt, and, without both of their starting centre backs , it will be a tricky task to stop Bruno Fernandes, Gonçalo Ramos and the gang.

But with Ounahi, Amrabat, Hakimi, Ziyech and Boufal – and the rest of the, currently exploding, Moroccan spirit – don't count out the Moroccans.

They can shock the world another time, exactly like they have been doing for the past three weeks.

Edited by Alex Smith