Morocco Hoping to Be First African Nation to Reach Wc Semifinals

10 December 2022
The New Times (Kigali)
By Edmund Okai Gyimah

The Atlas Lions of Morocco will be hoping to make history at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha on Saturday, December 10, when they face the Navigators of Portugal in a 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter finals encounter.

The North Africans who were the first African country to reach the second round of the FIFA World Cup in Mexico 1986 are hoping to set another record by being the only African nation to get to the semi finals in the tournament history.

Morocco has been magnificent in Qatar, so far. They are the team with the strongest defence in the competition. They conceded only one goal in regulation time in four games. They drew goalless with Croatia, beat Belgium 2-0 and defeated Canada 2-1. In the round of 16, they saw off Spain 3-0 on penalties after 120 minutes of action ended in a barren draw.

Morocco is the team with the deadliest attack up to this stage of the competition. They netted 12 goals in four games and conceded five. They beat Ghana 3-2, defeated Uruguay 2-0 and lost 2-1 to South Korea. In the second round, they humiliated Switzerland 6-1 to make it to the last eight.

Morocco and Portugal know each other well as far as the FIFA World Cup is concerned. This is going to be their third meeting in the history of the competition. Morocco beat Portugal 3-1 on June 11, 1986 in their first ever encounter during the Mexico 1986 World Cup. The second meeting was during the 2018 edition in Russia where a fourth minute strike from Cristiano Ronaldo settled the game.

Moroccan head coach Walid Regragui emphasized that his charges can upset Portugal though he pointed out that he wished Cristiano Ronaldo does not feature.

"They will be fresh. In any case, as a coach, I hope that Ronaldo will not play because he is one of the best players in history," Regragui stated in the pre match press conference.

"We are not going to focus on Portugal's big names, that would be a mistake. They are hungry, they want to make history like us. I think the stadium will be full of Moroccan supporters. This is important for us as it will help us. We are capable, we have to be positive and optimistic. It's not going to be easy."

Morocco have all their players fit for the encounter and much will depend on skipper Romain Saiss in the heart of defense as well as right back Achraf Hakimi, winger Hakim Ziyech and attacker En Neysri. They have been very instrumental for the Atlas Lions in the competition.

Portuguese coach Fernando Santos has a real headache in whether to start experienced Cristiano Ronaldo in attack against Morocco or stick with Benfica's youngster Goncalo Ramos who banged in a hat-trick against Switzerland.

Portugal have been ferocious upfront. But they have a very porous defense which the likes of Ghana and South Korea have already exploited.

This game is going to be very intriguing with lots of action and may probably end in penalties with Morocco sending Portugal out of the competition.

Read the original article on New Times.

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