Europe, home to just 10 percent of the world population, kept its stranglehold on the World Cup final as France advanced to give the continent a participant in every summit clash since 1954.
France vs Morocco semifinal Highlights: As it Happened
In this semifinal between two nations inseparably tied by the history of French colonialism and its aftereffects, the first African and Arab representative in the last four drew widespread support from the host and other countries with similar heritage.
In the red-jewelled Al Bayt with its splattering of white thobes, it was hard to spot an opposing fan in the stands but an expertly taken strike from Theo Hernandez brought a sudden hush to this cacophony like in a bird house at six am.
Antoine Griezmann’s subtle turn left Jawad El-Yamiq clutching to his shadow and France’s player of this tournament quickly found a moving Kylian Mbappe in the middle. The Moroccan block, regrettably, took the ball to an unmarked Hernandez, and he thumped the bouncing sphere inside with a high left footer as an onrushing Yassin Bonou was beaten for the second time in this tournament. Achraf Dari, on the line, could not get the connection desired and Morocco was 1-0 down.
The Atlas Lions, however, were not ready to give this up without a fight and Azzedine Ounahi tested Hugo Lloris with a stinging 25-yards drive. But a long ball from the back saw Olivier Giroud sneak ahead of Romain Saiss, who had miraculously recovered to play after he was stretchered off against Portugal. The French all-time top-scorer’s first-time shot grazed the post signalling the imminent threat.
The Morocco captain clearly was fighting on adrenaline and not at his physical best, his heavily strapped left thigh indicated. He was soon replaced by Selim Amallah, Saiss’s courageous foray ending in the 21st minute. Morocco’s other first-choice centre-back Nayef Aguerd was also ruled out right ahead of kick-off after initially making the match-day squad.
France could have scored its second when Aurelien Tchouameni found a lurking Mbappe. Bonou was beaten but El-Yamiq was there to thwart the danger with a timely hack.
The centre-back was soon at the other end, trying a spectacular bicycle kick to breech the French resistance, but Lloris was up to the task to push El-Yamiq’s effort into the bar with the faintest of touch.
With 10 second-half minutes played, Morocco was left wondering about its fate. Sofiane Boufal’s cross from the left evaded the towering Youssef En-Nesyri and Attiatt-Allah, too, failed to achieve the desired result when the ball came to him.
As Morocco’s legs and mind tired from the relentless running, Mbappe picked the moment to end the fairy tale. A miss pass in the middle spelt trouble and when the ball reached Mbappe, he shuffled the ball between his legs before threading it to newly-introduced Randal Kolo Muani for the easiest tap-in.
Led by the Paris-born manager Walid Regragui, Morocco’s success has been no accident. The passion of a football-mad ruler Mohammed VI and the assimilation of its homegrown stars –Azzedine Ounahi and striker Youssef En-Nesyri, the man who outjumped Cristiano Ronaldo – and the country’s wider diaspora – Hakim Ziyech (born in Dronten, the Netherlands), Achraf Hakimi (Madrid), Sofiane Boufal (Paris) helped them to a place where no African team had ever reached.
A multilingual squad had been united by its faith – the players read the first chapter of the Qur’an before the shootout against Spain and prayed in front of their fans and families after the Portugal win and even after the loss tonight – and the love for their mothers and will now be forever remembered as legends.
The viral post of Achraf Hakimi about his mother and pictures of Boufal dancing with his mother and fixing her hijab have been the perfect symbol for the role of matriarchs in a diaspora that has been often vilified for the treatment of its women.
Here they lost in the semis, but the 68,294 people at the desert colosseum, soon to be deserted, kept cheering the 26 brave men and Regragui; they’ll be eternally eulogised for winning both on and off the pitch and daring a continent to dream again.
Comments
SHARE