In the game of football that has somewhat ceased to be a team sport and become the domain of idolised, pampered and overpaid individual superstars, Morocco’s continued participation at the 2022 World Cup is a huge victory for the collective effort.
The Atlas Lions will take on world champions France in Wednesday night’s semifinal on the back of a compelling team display that has seen them overcome so-called aristocrats of the game, complete with their revered armies of millionaire stars.
Any thoughts that the victories over Belgium and Spain were flukes got smashed to smithereens via Saturday night’s elimination of a Portugal outfit installed as overwhelming favourites for a spot in the last four after their 6-1 demolition of Switzerland.
In the rarefied atmosphere of Doha’s Al Thumama Stadium, where their passionate fans roared them on with song, Morocco made World Cup history for the African continent and the Arab world. Their 1-0 victory over Portugal saw them become the first African and Arab nation to reach the semifinal of the global spectacle, a feat achieved courtesy of the good old ethos of teamwork on which the sport was founded.
Walid Regragrui’s team does not have a Kevin de Bruyne or a Sergio Busquets, let alone a Cristiano Ronaldo. Sure Hakim Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi are renowned players, but they are no world superstars — at least not at the level of the aforementioned trio. And so in the absence of individual match-winners, “Mr Avocado Head” — as Regrarui was once disparagingly, and is now affectionately, known — had no option but to do it the traditional way, as a collective. Football is a team sport after all.
On Saturday night when faced with an adversary teeming with so many such individual superstars they could even afford to bench the five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, Morocco needed every one of their 11 players to put their shoulder to the wheel. Not that Regragrui was asking his men to do the impossible — they’d progressed to the last eight through team effort and pure grit.
As Portugal looked to impose themselves in the game by going on the attack from the onset, Morocco remained their resolute defensive self, keeping shape at the back and protecting Yassine Bounou’s goal like a mother hen does its chicks.
The absence of key defenders Noussair Mazraoui and Nayef Aguerd through injuries hardly seemed to have a negative effect as their replacements fit into the line-up as perfectly as a puzzle piece.
Early on, when they were fighting a rearguard battle that would have withered teams, Morocco produced a lesson in cover defence during which midfielders dropped back to fill in for defenders who had been stretched and drawn out of position.
On the few occasions they got defensively breached, Bounou stood tall as he made brilliant saves to deny Portugal the equaliser.
Such is the nature of football that so long as you don’t concede a goal you don’t lose a match. Coaches often add that being able to do that means a chance at winning should you get an opportunity on the other side. And so it proved as Morocco scored just before the halftime break via Youssef EL-Nessyri’s header.
Those who had witnessed their earlier matches would have known the Portuguese would require a Herculean effort to get back into the match.
The recent successes of Moroccan football that have seen Wydad Casablanca become a continental club force and their women's game rising to hitherto unachieved heights was built on solid defence. Whoever was on the pitch against Portugal on Saturday was prepared to break a limb to ensure the lead was protected.
Granted there were moments when the Portuguese could have found a goal. But it was never clear-cut, Morocco playing their hearts out and defending resolutely to retain their lead.
The injury to captain Romain Saiss, who had to be stretchered off midway in the second half, could have badly affected many a weaker side. But they seemed to be galvanised by it as each of the players on the pitch doubled his effort.
The Atlas Lions' enthusiasm to stop the Portuguese attack was such that substitute Walid Cheddira picked up two quick yellow cards as he strove to win possession and thus leave his teammates a man short late in the match. But it was not the kind of setback to stop their historic roar into the World Cup semifinal.
And their passionate celebrations, when Regrarui and his technical team flocked to the the pitch before the players held “Mr Avocado Head” aloft and tossed him up and down,was a worthy conclusion to a spectacular and memorable night.
Whatever happens against France, there can be no denying Morocco have made a statement for the return of the good old values of football as a team sport.
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