Morocco and France kicked off a decisive and intense match to secure a spot at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals on Wednesday, the first World Cup semi-final involving an African team was officially commenced.
Morocco, ranked 22nd, faced off against world-renowned fourth-ranked France.
It has been 85 years since Morocco and France met on the pitch, an event in which the Moroccans defeated France 4-2.
Hosted at the Al Bayt Stadium, the semi-final match was a major one for both teams, though even more so for Morocco, which is the only African and Arab team to have ever reached the semi-finals of the World Cup; in the first held World Cup in an Arab country.
The journey of the Atlas Lions to the 2022 World Cup has inspired football fans in the area and sparked an Arab and Muslim unity wave in the region and worldwide.
A largely dominant Morocco crowd filled the 68,895 capacity stadium, which was flooded with the sounds of whistles and cheers every time Morocco was in possession of the ball. Almost an entire full house, the attendance at the stadium stood at 68,294.
Muslim fans in the stadium were witnessed twice during the match reciting the proclamation of faith as France President Emmanuel Macron attended the match on Wednesday.
Many had supported the move, with some hoping for the instance to occur in a bid to “show Macron the Ummah [Muslim community] he insults”.
The French President has himself claimed that Islam is a religion “in crisis” and has presided over Paris’ controversial “anti-separatism” law, which rights groups say has been used to target minorities, particularly Muslims. Under the law, dozens of French mosques have been raided and closed down.
French goal in the first 45
Morocco began the game strong by pressuring the French inside its own-half. However, a score was witnessed as early as minute five of the game with France finding the back of Morocco’s net.
Kylian Mbappe’s shot took a significant deflection, and Theo Hernandez caught the ball. Hernandez sent the ball past the goal in an acrobatic volley manner as Goalie Yassine Bono stepped off his line.
In the first half, Morocco fell behind for the first time in the tournament, the first such concession from an opponent’s score. The Atlas Lions only other goal concession goes back to a group-stage own goal against Canada.
Morocco came back strong, with minute 11 witnessing Azzedine Ounahi make a fantastic outside-the-box curling effort from 25 yards. Lloris, however, did well in stopping the ball from creeping inside the far post.
From Morocco, another hopeful break at minute 17. Moving through a few midfielders, Boufal angled a pass to Ziyech on the right side of the area. He took a touch, but his shot on the stretch was mildly wide.
A substitution at minute 19 saw Romain Saiss, the Moroccan captain walking off the pitch, although that was not entirely unexpected given the hamstring injury he sustained on Saturday. Selim Amallah replaced Saiss and the latter gave the armband to Hakim Ziyech.
Based on the scoreline, Morocco was having more possession of the ball than they have in most matches thus far, playing with a lot of forward hope.
France’s Konate blocked a stinging shot from Achraf Hakimi that he took from 22 yards away at minute 26.
France seals a victory
As the players made their way to the pitch for the second half, Morocco replaced Noussair Mazraou with Yahya Attiat-Allah.
Morocco was seen dominating the game in the second half, having come back strong to recover from the first goal they conceded.
However at minute 79, France’s Randal Kolo Muani scores in the Moroccan goal. Mbappe exhilaratingly darted between two opponents on the rim of the penalty area. His shot struck Ezzalzouli, who had just come in, and bounced across the goal area, setting up Kolo Muani for the score.
Moroccans still made history as the last African and Arab team standing at a FIFA World Cup semi-final match. The Atlas Lions will now go on to face Croatia for third place on 17 December.
