On December 10th the Moroccan soccer team beat Portugal in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, a huge upset that has made history. With their advancement into the semi-finals, the team has exemplified what it means to be an underdog and has exceeded all expectations.
Prior to the start of the tournament, the manager of the Moroccan team, Walid Regragui, stated that “one should not have too many expectations about this team,” with their own captain, Romain SaÏs, claiming that a reasonable goal would be to set their sights on sixteenth place. Despite these low expectations, Morocco continued to advance through the tournament until they were face to face with Portugal in the quarter-final.
The match itself was seemingly in Portugal’s lap: they were a clear favorite with Christiano Ronaldo on their side, and the ball was in their possession for the majority of the game. Near the end of the first half, the game remained tied 0-0, with Morocco standing strong against incessant Portuguese attacks. And then in the forty-second minute, Yahia Attiyat floated the ball in front of the Portuguese cage and Youssef En-Nesyri met the hopeful cross with an immaculately timed header to score the winning goal.
This win for Morocco, while exciting on its own, goes beyond this singular match. Their victory against Portugal places them in the semi finals as the first African nation to do so, and the first Arab country to carve a place for themselves this deep in the World Cup. There is an underrepresentation of African and Arab nations in the tournament, and as a result, Morocco has brought together the entire continent of Africa behind them, as well as the Arab world. The team’s success blazes a trail for their successors while making a name for African soccer, a name that one may not hear too often due to lack of representation and funding.
Throughout the match, the persistent cheers of the fans of Morocco could be heard even outside of the stadium, with many other spectators crowded outside the stadium on their phones. Upon their victory, the Moroccan team ran to their fans and knelt to pray before them. The relationship between the team and its fans goes to show how monumental this team’s success is.
Romain SaÏs, the Moroccan captain, said, “Dreaming is free but to do it is different.” On December 14th, Morocco will face off against France, their former colonizers, which holds weight in itself. Whether they advance or not, they have most certainly earned the right to reach for the moon, and—if their journey ends here—they have placed themselves amongst the stars.
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