World Cup
The secret of Morocco’s good fortune at the 2022 World Cup can be summed up through the parents of the players who joined them.
After Morocco stunned the football world by beating pre-tournament favourites Belgium 2-0 in a Group F match, Paris Saint-Germain full-back Achraf Hakimi walked towards his mother in the stands.
His pinch on the cheek went viral on social media platforms. The 24-year-old then posted an Instagram photo of him planting a kiss on his mother’s forehead with the caption “I love you, mom. “
But Hakimi’s mother is rarely the only Moroccan soccer mother to travel to Qatar to see her son at the 2022 World Cup.
On the instruction of coach Walid Regragui and the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, members of the circle of relatives selected from all members of the Moroccan team are entitled to an all-inclusive trip to Qatar.
As a result, the Morocco base at Wyndham Doha West Bay Hotel feels like an adorable parent-run summer camp. For some, like Regragui’s mother, Fatima, the holidays were an exclusive opportunity.
“During his entire career as a player and coach, I never traveled to see him,” he told Moroccan sports channel Arriyadia. “I’ve been living in France for more than 50 years and this is the first festival I leave Paris. “by. “
Midfielder Abdelhamid Sabiri’s parents are cameramen. They spent a few days strolling around the hotel, taking pictures with Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech, Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bono and, of course, coach Regragui.
Every time the microphones on the television pointed at their faces, the proud parents of the Moroccan players sprang from their children and the way they regarded all the “boys” of the team as their own.
In addition to heartwarming social media posts, building positive power is a component of Regragui’s strategy to achieve intangible benefits that will translate on the ground. He said this without delay after taking office, at the Mohamed VI Compound in Maamoura, when he said: “Our good fortune is not imaginable without the happiness of our fathers.
Morocco are not favourites at this World Cup, but by reaching the knockout stages for the first time since 1986, they have already thrilled their enthusiasts and families. It has also become a team in which many neutrals take root: emotional scenes like Hakimi’s with his mother’s most likely.
But there are details to the magic potion that carries Morocco’s hopes: the plethora of Moroccan enthusiasts who have made Qatar’s stadiums their home.
At least 15,000 Moroccans live in Qatar and several thousand more, from around the world, made it to the first World Cup hosted by the Arabs, creating intimidating atmospheres for rival organizations at each of their organization-level matches.
Perhaps the most applicable example of inside assistance helping the Atlas Lions came in the final game against Belgium. After taking a 1-0 lead with 15 minutes to go, Morocco was ready to absorb tension and launch counterattacks. If the World Cup had been held in Europe or South America, where there would have been less help at home, those 15 minutes might have lasted only an hour.
Instead, a cacophony of whistles and boos fell on the Belgian players at Al Thumama Stadium every time they took possession of the ball. Cathartic roars erupted from the stands every time the ball cleared.
“I swear to God that if the fans weren’t there we wouldn’t qualify for the next round!” exclaimed Regragui, after the group’s last match.
Combine the strain Moroccan fans have placed on the opposition in Qatar with clinical evidence indicating the superior testosterone levels enjoyed by home teams, and the North African team has something to thank their fans for.
Of course, this does not detract from the quality of the players themselves, who beat other Arab teams at the World Cup. But before their knockout clash against Spain, demand for tickets was so high that the Moroccan football federation bought another 5,000 fan tickets.
Shrouded in their royal red flags and armed with darbouka cup drums, Moroccan enthusiasts will likely turn Education City somewhere else on Tuesday night.
There is a quarter-final spot at stake, there is also a deeper sociological context underlying Morocco’s clash with Spain.
After facing Belgium, Morocco will play a present-day Western European country with a giant Moroccan diaspora. In total, 137 players at the 2022 World Cup constitute a different country than the one they were born into.
This includes 14 of the 26 players on Regragui’s team, making Morocco the maximum dependent on the diaspora of 32 countries competing in Qatar.
However, while such a situation can theoretically complicate team chemistry, given that the players have another education, this hodgepodge of birthplaces turned out to have worked for Morocco. One of the reasons, according to the players’ parents: those in the diaspora. They are even more enthusiastic about the Moroccan national team than some at home.
At the Wyndham last week, many parents of players bragged about their children’s fondness for the national team and their resolve to incorporate Morocco rather than play for their country of birth.
Striker Zakaria Aboukhlal’s father, Tarek, said: “He [Zakaria] was born in Holland, and he has everything he wants there, but our blood is Moroccan. “
Midfielder Bilal el-Khannouss’ father even more express in explaining why his Belgian-born son chose to play for Morocco. “His center spoke to him,” the father said.
Immediately after qualifying for the knockout stages, French-born Regragui admitted he had been thinking about the 1986 World Cup, when the team last left the organizing stage. “At the time, I was living in the French suburbs, and when Morocco beat Portugal, it was the happiest thing I’ve ever been in my life,” he said.
Now, his team is about to climb new heights: a position in the quarterfinals of the World Cup would be unprecedented. Spain will be the choice of bookmakers, but Morocco showed the world what it is capable of in this tournament.
The mother of love helps.