Why Are We Surprised at Morocco?
After a spirited effort with lots of support from millions of fans in Africa and the Arab world, the dream of Morocco to become the first African-Arab nation to win the World Cup ended last night at the Al Bayt Stadium in Doha, Qatar when they lost to defending champions France by two un-replied goals, before a crowd of 68,294, most of whom were rooting for the Moroccans.
Yes, Morocco’s performance in Qatar is considered special as it is the first time an African country will reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. Many people seem surprised at the feat, because Morocco was not the highest FIFA-ranked team among the African qualifiers and they were not tipped to be tops, because Senegal and Ghana seemed more prepped and ready for the honours.
Morocco has qualified for the final stages of the FIFA World Cup on six occasions, which were in 1970, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2018 and 2022.
However, Qatar 2022 is not the first time Morocco is making history in the tournament. Mexico 1986 was a historic World Cup for Morocco as well.
Many of us stayed glued to our TV sets then, not only to watch the mesmerizing moves of Argentina’s Diego Maradona and Gary Lineker of England, but to follow the history being made live by the African country on behalf of the continent.
Our late friend and colleague, Yinka Craig’s voice was something special to listen to while running commentaries on television, when he would reel out the names of the Moroccan players who took Mexico by storm to the surprise of all. Such names like Badou Zaki, Goalkeeper; Mustapha El Hadaoui, Midfield; Aziz Bouderbala, Midfield; Abdelkarim Krimau, Forward; and Abdelrazzak Khairi, in the Midfield would roll out of Yinka’s tongue with ease.
The 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico was the 13th FIFA World Cup and it was won by Argentina (their second title, after winning in 1978). Argentina was captained by the 25-year-old Diego Armando Maradona, who played a large part in his team’s success by scoring his “Hand of God” goal, as well as another voted “Goal of the Century”, in the same quarter-final against England. Mexico 1986 was held from May 31 to June 29 1986.
The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Top scorer was Gary Lineker with 6 goals to win the Golden Shoe as it was called then, (It is now Golden Boot), while the best player was Maradona.
In that 1986, the Atlas Lions became the first African side to reach the knockout stages of a World Cup, courtesy of a 3-1 win against Portugal in their last group game. In that year, although they scored only three goals, they became the first African national team to finish top of a group at the World Cup. They won the group which had Portugal, England and Poland, thanks to two draws against the English and Polish and the win against the Portuguese. However, they were narrowly eliminated by West Germany in the first knockout round, thanks to a goal from Lothar Matthäus one minute from the end of regulation time, but claimed the record of becoming the first African and Arab national team to have passed the first round of the World Cup.
Until Qatar, the 1986 team remains the best in the history of Morocco. So, playing the semi-final should not really be a surprise. Their Football Federation has done a lot of work before Qatar. The Federation’s work has also shown in the women’s game where the senior and junior teams have recorded successes in recent times, worthy of emulation by Nigeria and other African Federations. Kudos to Morocco.
By the way, outside of football, Morocco has produced several top sportsmen and women who have excelled on the world stage so we should not be surprised at the heroics of the Qatar 2022 World Cup team.
Such athletes include Hicham El Guerrouj, the multi-times world champion and two times Olympic-gold medalist who is still the current world record holder of the outdoor 1500 metres, the Mile, and 2000 metres events. He also held indoor world records for the mile and 1500 metres until 2019, and is the only man since Paavo Nurmi to earn a gold medal in both the 1500 metres and 5000 metres at the same Olympic Games. El Guerrouj holds 7 of the fastest 9 times ever run in the 1500 metres and 7 of the 10 fastest in the mile. Given these achievements, El Guerrouj is considered by many to be the greatest middle-distance runner of all time.
Nawal El Moutawakel is also a famous Moroccan Athlete – a 400 metres hurdles women’s champion who is still very active in world athletics administration. She won the inaugural women’s 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Olympics, becoming the first female Muslim born on the continent of Africa to become an Olympic champion.
Then there is Saïd Aouita, considered the most famous Moroccan Athlete of all time. He won the 5000 metres at the 1984 Olympics and the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, as well as the 3000 metres at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He is a former world record holder over 1500 metres, 2000 metres, 3000 metres and twice at 5000 metres.
So it is not only in football that Morocco has surprised us with stellar performance.
