Doha, November 07 (QNA) - The Moroccan national football team is participating in the FIFA World Cup for the sixth time in their history. They will be hoping to reach round of 16 this time to make up for going out of the group stage in Russia in 2018.
The list of the Moroccan national team participating in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals is filled with a group of stars, led by national coach Walid Regragui, who took over the management of the Moroccan national team a few weeks before the start of the World Cup, succeeding Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, and worked to unite the ranks and return the stars to the lions' den, amid hopes of going far.
The Moroccan team is armed with experienced players like Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimi, Chelsea player Hakim Ziyech, and Younes Belhanda, Adana player Demirspor of Turkey, Sofyan Amrabat, the Italian player of Fiorentina, Romain Saiss, the former English Wolverhampton player who currently plays for Besiktas, and Yassine Bounou, the goalkeeper giant and brilliance with the Spanish team Seville, and the winner of the Zamora award for the best goalkeeper in the Spanish League last season.
The Moroccan team is in Group F with Belgium, Canada, and Croatia. They will start their campaign in against Croatia on Nov. 23 at Al Bayt Stadium, then Belgium on the 27th of the same month at Al Thumama Stadium, and conclude their group stage matches against Canada on Dec. 1 at Al Thumama Stadium.
The Moroccan Football Federation chose Wyndham Doha West Bay (Doha's business and shopping district) as the headquarters of the national team during the World Cup in Qatar, to train at Al Duhail Sports Club stadium.
The Moroccan team succeeded in obtaining the qualification card for the World Cup in Qatar at the expense of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the decisive third round, after a tie in the first leg in Kinshasa (1-1), then the Atlas Lions beat their counterparts 4-1 in the return leg.
Morocco topped its group in the second round, which included Sudan, Guinea Bissau, and Guinea, after collecting 18 points from winning in its six matches, scored 20 goals and received one goal.
Morocco managed to reach the major championship in the world of football on 5 previous occasions, and the beginning was in the World Cup Mexico 1970, and Morocco waited 16 years to appear again in the same country, Mexico in 1986, to be absent again and appear in two successive editions 1994 and 1998, while the fifth participation in the World Cup Russia 2018 came after an absence of 20 years.
Morocco qualified for the first time to the World Cup in in Mexico in 1970, when it fell in Group D with West Germany, Peru and Bulgaria, and despite its exit from the group stage, the "Atlas Lions" team achieved the first point for African teams in the history of the World Cup when they tied with Bulgaria (1-1).
The Moroccan team returned to the World Cup for the second time in Mexico, in 1986, and Morocco managed to skip the group stage by drawing with Poland and England, and defeating the Portuguese team in the third match, 3-1, to become the first African and Arab team to skip the first round, but it was eliminated from the tournament in the round of 16 by Germany.
After Morocco lost the honor of organizing the 1994 World Cup, in favor of America, the Moroccan team determined that the loss of the organization would not prevent them from being in the tournament, and that was their qualification for the third participation in the World Cup America, after an exciting career in the qualifiers, which was not resolved until the last round, Morocco fell into the sixth group of the 1994 World Cup, but lost all its matches and was bid farewell to the tournament from the group stage.
In the World Cup France 1998, the Moroccan team presented a wonderful tournament despite its exit from the group stage, and the first group included, alongside it, the teams: Norway, Scotland, and Brazil, Morocco would have been close to qualifying had it not been for Norway's victory over Brazil, after 20 years in Russia 2018, the "Atlas Lions" fell into the second group, and Morocco ranked last in the group that included Spain, Portugal and Iran.
The Moroccan national team is one of the top Arab teams that represents a bright spot for the Arab participation in the World Cup and is equal with Saudi Arabia and Tunisia with six participations, Morocco also rose to the twenty-third place in the world during August 2022 in the monthly classification issued by the International Football Association.
Although the World Cup draw put the Moroccan team in a difficult group (Group F), football does not know the impossible, and the chances of the Atlas Lions remain to overcome the group stage and repeat the scenario of the World Cup Mexico 1986.
The history of Moroccan football is full of talented people who have been able to make history, including Mohamed Al Timoumi, Badou Zaki, Noureddine Naybet, Salaheddine Bassir Aziz Bouderbala, Abdelmajid Dolmy, Abdul Karim Miri Karimo, Mustapha Hadji and Abdeljalil Hadda. (QNA)