Morocco fans across the globe celebrate historic World Cup win over Portugal
Morocco’s win over Portugal made them the first African team to make it to a World Cup semifinal and fans were celebrating all over the world.
Morocco proved to the world that they deserve to be considered among the best at the World Cup. They have made it to the semifinals, the first African team to ever make it to this stage. They first topped their group, beating Canada and Belgium and coming to a scoreless draw with Croatia. They went on to beat Spain on a penalty shootout in the Round of 16. And now, they’ve defeated Portugal in a 1-0 victory that most people were not expecting. Now though, as they get ready to face France in the semifinals, they should not be underestimated.
Morocco makes history
Morocco is in the World Cup for just the sixth time. Before this, their best result was at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico when they made it to the Round of 16.
Fans all over the globe were celebrating Morocco’s historic win, including in major cities like London, Casablanca, Lisbon, and Paris.
“We are so happy, viva Morocco!” said a Moroccan fan following their shocking defeat over Portugal. “We’ll make the final. We wanted to get through the knockout stages, and now we’re here!”
Morocco head coach Walid Regragui has led this Morocco team to four clean sheets in five appearances in the 2022 Qatar World Cup and nine clean sheets in their last ten across all competitions. Their defense has been a big part of making that happen and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou has been a hero for them multiple times.
In the match against Portugal, it was the Portuguese side who maintained possession, while Morocco had just 31.3% possession, the second-lowest rate at the tournament. That makes their defensive effort all the more impressive. Achraf Hakimi won possession nine times and won both of his attempted tackles. In fact, he has a total of 19 tackles and 13 won at the World Cup, the most of any player. Sofyan Amrabat won possession eight times and his 41 overall are the most of any player in the tournament.
“It’s 1986 all over again with [Aziz] Bouderbala and [Mohamed] Timoumi! We’re through another round,” said an excited Morocco fan. “We are no longer looking for progress. We’re looking to win the World Cup.”