MOROCCO have already won hearts across the world and made history in Qatar. Today (Saturday) they could break even more barriers.
The Atlas Lions face Croatia in the third-place playoff of the Qatar 2022 World Cup aiming to achieve a rarity: a team outside of Europe and South America claiming a medal, even if it is bronze.
Since the World Cup began in 1930, in its 21 editions before Qatar, only once has a non-European/non-South American team finished as high as third.
This happened at that very inaugural edition 92 years ago when the United States of America came third behind champions Uruguay and runners-up Argentina.
Indeed, since that 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, only South Korea have broken the European and South American dominance to finish fourth on home soil in 2002.
The Atlas Lions are already the first African team in history to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup and the third from outside Europe and South America.
Their next assignment later today is to break new ground and end the almost century-old wait for a place on the podium for the ‘little guys’ who do not have the vast resources of Europe and the football pedigree of South America.
Morocco coach Walid Regragui likens their story to that of Rocky Balboa, the lead character in the iconic movie franchise ‘Rocky’ who never knows when he is beaten.
Regragui insists he and his players have put behind them Wednesday’s semi-final defeat to France and are ready to battle for another piece of history.
“Now we have been knocked out but we will get back up like Rocky always gets back up, I know there’s a Rocky 7 or 8. So we’ll be around for a long time,” the Morocco head coach told FIFA.
“It’s complicated because we started strong, we wanted to give many people hope too, but unfortunately the competition is what it is.
“We came up against a beautiful squad. The best squad in the world. We learned a lot. That’s what we need to get ourselves up, we need to learn well in order to move forward and do better than what we did.”
Morocco defied all predictions to beat Belgium, Spain and Portugal in Qatar, and they have another high hurdle to scale in Croatia, the runners-up of the last edition of the tournament in 2018.
When asked how he thinks his side will be remembered, Regragui reaches for the skies.
“As the first African squad to go to the semi-finals and as the best African team in history,” the France-born Moroccan notes. “The results are clear, we are semi-finalists but we have faced some of the best European teams.
“Since we faced big teams on our way, we had some surprises, and I think people will remember our state of mind, our human quality also, because we proved that Moroccans have a lot of values and they have a lot of desire.
“We put on a show in the stands too because our fans are extraordinary. I think that everything together proves that this squad will be remembered.”
What Morocco have achieved is enough to immortalise Regragui and his squad, but he wants one last massive effort, one final push for eternal glory.
“We are committed to finishing on a victory, for the public too. Taking the third place means being on the podium,” he adds.
“So it is important for the country, and for the players, to finish well in this competition. We will give our best effort to bring home third place.”
