The mid-size car is clearly overcrowded, but the occupants don’t give a damn that evening. The car drives towards the intersection with a continuous horn. Men and women alternately lean out of three windows, waving Moroccan flags, with the national coat of arms painted on their faces and singing loudly in an attempt to turn night into day. The reveling crowd on one of Doha’s busiest streets is no exception, with impromptu parties and alleyway dances erupting in numerous squares in the Qatari capital. It’s time to celebrate something historic: the national team’s first knockout round at a World Cup since 1986.
It’s been five days since the party, but little has changed in the happiness of the Moroccan fans. Now they are looking forward to the next historic day full of anticipation and confidence: the clash with Spain in the knockout stages (Tuesday, 4 p.m.) and the big dream of an entire continent to be the first African team to advance to a World Cup semifinals. Or even further. “You can do anything with these fans and this spirit,” says national coach Walid Regragui.
He feeds the optimism from an extremely strong performance by his team during the tournament. As the only one of five participants from Africa who started, Morocco finished first in the preliminary round and qualified for the round of 16 alongside Senegal. But because that coup succeeded in an extremely strong season with Belgium, Croatia and Canada, the coach and players seem to have no limits. “We didn’t come here just to play,” said Regragui: “Why shouldn’t we dream of lifting the trophy? There is still a lot to come from us. We’re a tough team to beat.”
There are bold tones – compared to the previous history. Because World Cup finals and Africa’s successes are two things in world football that have so far been extremely manageable. Since the first global tournament in 1930, 13 African nations have taken part in a World Cup. Only three of them ever reached a quarter-final: Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010). Far too little in view of the enthusiastic fans and numerous world-class players such as Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, George Weah and Mohamed Salah, which African clubs have repeatedly produced.
In the eyes of former Ghanaian international and Bundesliga professional Hans Sarpei, the poor performance of an entire continent is mainly due to a lack of mental strength and excessive expectations. “Most African players play in Europe and are able to handle pressure. But it’s something completely different when an entire country is waiting for overall victory,” Sarpei told DW. “They don’t just feel the pressure on themselves, but also on their families. When you’re eliminated, you know you can’t go back to your home country for the time being, but fly back to Europe, where you play.
That pressure is now fully focused on Morocco following the elimination of Senegal’s squad against England (0-3) on Sunday night. In their first appearance in a knockout round since June 18, 1986 in San Nicolás de los Garza/Mexico (then 0-1 against Germany), the team seems quite capable of surviving in a duel with Spain. Some exceptional players like Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Noussair Mazraoui (FC Bayern Munich), Youssef En-Nesyri (FC Sevilla) or Hakim Ziyech (FC Chelsea) fuel the fantasy that things could go far this time.
Because the team is also given unconditional support in the stands. 30,000 or more Moroccan fans regularly attend the games of their soccer heroes and create a great atmosphere. Many of them live in Qatar, the rest have set out and made the journey to the emirate, 5,500 kilometers from home. After the hosts’ quiet defeat with three bankruptcies in the preliminary round, one could almost think that Morocco is something like the new, secret home team of the World Cup. “We made history with our qualification for the next round,” says playmaker Ziyech: “I’m proud of what we’ve achieved. We fight together in all games.”
The fact that things are going so well for the selection is also closely linked to some personal quarrels in the run-up to the title fights. The Moroccan football association FRMF only parted ways with national coach Vahid Halilhodzic in August after he had suspended important players such as Mazraoui and Ziyech for alleged indiscipline. He was succeeded by the 47-year-old Regragui. And although he had the lowest total time of all coaches with his selection among the 32 World Cup participants, he succeeded straight away in Qatar.
Now the man, who was born in France, wants to achieve the next coup against a football giant. In any case, he has already drafted a groundbreaking plan for the showdown with Spain: “We have to copy the game of the Europeans and bring in our own values. If we do that, we win.”
