The hurrah moments of the World Cup

As you would expect, the ongoing 2022 World Cup in various stadia in Qatar has its ‘ahh’, ‘oh’, and ‘hurrah’ moments. Those following the matches on live TV must have in one way or the other been through this experience.

I also guess that having been glued to their screens, they would have their preferences, and football team supporters can be quite fanatical about their idolised teams. I confess that I am rather ambivalent about team support, particularly when my country is not represented. But being a closet admirer of the underdog, I always tend not to celebrate the favourite, especially those teams that make a show of their entitlement to victory. When they are trounced that’s my hurrah moment.  

It’s with this mindset that I approached the Tuesday, December 6 match between Morocco and Spain which was to decide who would move to the quarter-final stage. Spain is a well-known footballing nation, home to, probably, two of the most famous football teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Spain has been a regular face in the World Cup and is said to have made 16 appearances out of 22 tournaments since the series began in 1930. In 2010, Spain won the World Cup when the tournament was held in South Africa. Morocco on the other hand has only made six appearances in the World Cup and has never gone beyond the group stage. Morocco was, then, the underdog.  

More than that, Morocco was the only African team left to play with a chance to go to the next level. The other African teams – Ghana, Cameroun, and Senegal – have all crashed out.

Morocco coming against Spain caused so much anxiety among its supporters for obvious reasons. How would Morocco perform on the field against this famous footballing nation? But as the game progressed and they held on to their corner, there was a glimmer of hope.

It was a daunting task as Spain had the monopoly of the entire field with over 75 per cent possession of the ball and perennially dancing in the goal mouth area of the Moroccans.  

At the end of the match, there was no winner and it went to extra time where Morocco tenaciously still held on. There had to be a winner and the game went into the heart-thumping penalties. This is whence the Moroccans asserted their superiority with their goalkeeper becoming the hero of the match clearing the Spanish penalties effortlessly while the Moroccans kept on scoring their takes.

The win at the end was exhilarating and for many of us one of the hurrah moments of the tournament. 

In the next round, Morocco was paired with Portugal, a much less fancied team compared to its other European colleagues. Yes, Portugal has pedigree having in the team the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo who is said to be the greatest player of all time. But Portugal had only been to the World Cup eight times and had never taken the cup. Their best performance ever was the 4th place they got in 2006.

Juxtapose this with the successes of one of their neighbours, England, which has been to 18 World Cup events and has once won the trophy. Spain, France, Germany, and Italy have been to most of the World Cup events and have taken the trophy several times. France is the current holder of the trophy.  

I watched the match with Portugal with far reduced trepidation. I had expected Morocco to carry the day despite the dominance of the Portuguese team having over 72 per cent of ball possession. Any observer, with a neutral perspective, would have noticed that the Moroccans were sticking to their successful game plan of defending their goalpost and only making occasional forays into the Portuguese side.

It was one of those occasional runs that fetched them their only goal which eventually became the winning one. It was a joyous moment for the team and they celebrated lustily from one end of the stadium to the other.  

I saw them individually performing the Sujud al-Shukr and in one moment all of them fell together in prayer. It was an exhilarating sight. That was a triumph for Morocco and an even greater victory for the African continent, as no African team has ever gone beyond the quarter-final stage since the World Cup began.

Morocco is African, but it is also overwhelmingly Arab. And that’s why the win was also widely celebrated in the Middle East as none of their teams had also ever gone beyond the quarter-final.  

We look forward to Morocco meeting France in the semi-final now with abundant confidence. France is the current holder of the World Cup and the match is already touted as the final before the final.

But on the route to the semi-final, Morocco had dispensed with Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, all European neighbours of France. I guess there must be a lot of worrying on the French side.  

On a final note, I hope the Moroccan feat would now ginger the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to demand more slots for the African teams in the World Cup tournament. If a small island like the United Kingdom can send two teams, England and Wales, to the World Cup, I see no reason why the African continent should be held down to only five slots.