What you need to know:
Morocco have had great teams and exceptional players lighting up international football since the establishment of Royal Moroccan Football Federation in 1955.
For those born in the 1970s and before, who can forget that exciting Morocco team that wrote history at the 1986 World Cup by becoming the first African side to reach the knock-out stages?
Mark you, at that time Africa was represented by just two nations.
Morocco, featuring goalkeeper Badou Zaki, midfielders Abdelmajid Dolmy – considered one of the best players the country has ever produced, 1986 African Footballer of the Year Mohamed Timoumi and Abdelaziz El Idrissi Bouderbala, showed scant respect to European giants of that time.
They drew goalless against Poland and England before dispatching Portugal 3-1 to top Group F – a first for an African nation.
The suave Atlas Lions, who looked every inch a World Cup winning outfit, eventually lost 1-0 in the second round to a very powerful West Germany side that went all the way to the final.
What about the Morocco sides that qualified for the 1994 World Cup and 1998 World Cup boasting of such outstanding talents like Nouriddine Naybet, Moustapha El Hadji and Youseff Chipo?
The Atlas Lions have in fact appeared in six Fifa World Cup finals, including 1970, 2018 and 2022, the second highest for an African nation jointly with Nigeria. Cameroon hold the record of most appearances at eight.
Morocco’s, yet again, history-writing campaign at the 2022 Qatar World Cup that saw them become the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of football’s most prestigious global tournament is still fresh in our memories.
They topped a very tough pool unbeaten, holding fancied Croatia to a barren draw, before stunning group favourites Belgium 2-0 and then wrapping up their preliminary round with a 2-1 victory over Canada.
A compact, well drilled and disciplined Atlas Lions then knocked out mighty Spain 3-0 on penalties, after a 0-0 stalemate in 120 minutes of open play in the round of 16, and Portugal 1-0 in the quarters for their historic entry to the last four.
Despite this remarkable pedigree, the Atlas Lions have more often than not fought like pussycats at the Africa Cup of Nations vis-à-vis the other big boys of the continent.
While Egypt have won a record seven crowns, followed by Cameroon with five, Ghana with four, Nigeria with three, and two titles each for Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo and Algeria, the Atlas Lions have a paltry one Afcon victory to their name. They are wallowing in the same rung as, and this is no slight to them, the likes of Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia.
That coveted sole title was secured way back in 1974 in Ethiopia. Morocco’s other best result is losing finalists in 2004 to hosts Tunisia. They made semi-final appearances in 1980, 1986 and 1988.
But following their wonderful World Cup run in the Middle East last year under France-born local coach Walid Regragui, who played for the Atlas Lions that lost 2-1 to Tunisia in the 2004 final match, Morocco are considered hot favourites to lift this year’s trophy.
The North African giants are the number one ranked nation in the continent and have a truly world class squad.
Sample this: Defenders Achraf Hakimi (PSG), Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich), Nayef Aguerd (West Ham United), Romain Saiss (Al Shabab); Midfielders Sofyan Amrabat (Manchester United), Azz-eddine Ounahi (Marseille); Forwards Hakim Ziyach (Galatasary), Ismael Saibari (PSV Eindhoven). Need I say more?
I attended several press conferences of Regragui during the Qatar World Cup where he calmly stated, as they progressed deep into the tournament, that Morocco were looking at going all the way, and not just the semis. “Why not?” he kept posing.
Injury to their defensive bulwarks Aguerd and Saiss and two controversially denied penalty shout-outs, put paid to that ambition as they lost 2-0 to France in the semi-final.
The Atlas Lions are at full strength in Cote d’Ivoire and ready to pounce.
Regragui says they are aptly motivated. He revealed during an interview with CNN that he has put a photo of Morocco’s 1974 Afcon winning team in their camp for his boys to see everyday.
He has told them that they now need to have a second photo of an Atlas Lions team winning Africa’s biggest football prize. That mission kicks off today against minnows Tanzania in a Group F fixture.
Fifty years later, fate must be fair to these great football-playing lions of the Maghreb and open their path to a second African title.
It would be a deserved outcome, at least in the eyes of the Moroccan people, the legion of Atlas Lions admirers and romantic football neutrals like me (now that Harambee Stars are not participating). And why not?
Source: NMG
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