Morocco made history by becoming the first African side to reach the World Cup semi-finals.
Morocco overcame Portugal 1-0 to set up a semi-final against France on Wednesday, having already defeated Belgium, Canada and Spain in Qatar.
There are plenty of reasons why the Atlas Lions are a special team.
Let’s analyse some of these.
Defensive solidity
Morocco’s run to the last four has been built on rock-solid foundations.
They have only conceded once in five games so far. And even that came in the form of a Nayef Aguerd own-goal.
No opposition player has managed to get one past goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
Spain couldn’t even beat him in a penalty shootout, missing all three of their efforts with two of them saved.
The 31-year-old is doubtless a fantastic goalie but is also supported by a group of players in front of him.
Incredibly, Morocco have limited their opponents to just nine shots on target across five games so far.
This is truly outstanding as Morocco have let the opponents have the ball most of the time.
In fact, Morocco have had just 31.6 per cent possession so far – the second-lowest average of all 32 teams to have featured in the tournament.
Despite this, they have rarely let shots of the goal happen, which is unbelievable!
The credit for this goes to manager Walid Regragui who has organised his team brilliantly so that the defensive shape is maintained at all times.
Individual excellence
Morocco’s team members have caught the eye of the entire world.
Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat has been the player of the tournament.
He has been the best defensive midfielder and has excelled in breaking down attacks and also starting counter-attacks.
Another exciting player is Azzedine Ounahi.
He was playing in France’s third tier only 18 months ago, but he has been a revelation in Qatar.
In the game against Spain, the 22-year-old covered a total of 14.7km before his 119th-minute withdrawal – the most by any player on either side.
He was similarly impressive against Portugal, with most of Morocco’s best attacking moves going through him.
The biggest star of the team is PSG right back, Achraf Hakimiwhohas licence to pop up all over the pitch.
With limited striking options, Morocco rely upon Hakimi to create danger.
The manager
Walid Regragui is the prototypical new breed of African coach.
He is young, media-trained, player-friendly and an ex-international with valuable playing experience in Europe.
Regragui started out coaching Rabat club Fath Union Sport (FUS) and had a spell in Qatar.
However, it was at Moroccan club Wydad that he made his name, beating the Egyptian two-time defending champions Al Ahly to win the CAF Champions League in May.
Known as the ‘Moroccan Guardiola, he reintegrated Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech and Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui back into the side following international exiles for both players.
Under Regragui, Morocco is dreaming about winning the World Cup and why not!
