In early November, you may have been filling out your fantasy teams, praying for France or Brazil in your sweepstakes or dreaming of a winter when it finally came home.
You certainly wouldn’t have predicted that Morocco would be one of the final four teams in a line-up of semi-finalists without the inclusions of Brazil, England, Portugal, and Spain.
But, in usual tournament style, there was always going to be an outlier. It’s just that outliers aren’t meant to progress this far.
Morocco making history at the World Cup is being celebrated all over the world 🇲🇦 pic.twitter.com/0MaKQVojId
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 11, 2022
‘They lack quality, they lack depth, it always just ends up being a step too far’. You certainly wouldn’t say that is a description this seriously impressive Moroccan outfit, who have beaten three European footballing heavyweights in their run to the semi-finals.
While isolated by itself, Morocco’s story is truly outstanding. Their success comes at a vital stage for African football, providing a springboard for belief and future success for its nations.
🇲🇦 Even the King of Morocco got involved in last night’s celebrations pic.twitter.com/DTL65Tv0GM
— COPA90 (@Copa90) December 7, 2022
While Morocco may be the first African side to progress to the final four of a World Cup, the hope is that they won’t be the last.
They’ve truly been deserving of their place in the final stages, having put in several brilliant defensive performances throughout. You wouldn’t bet on them getting to the final, but you certainly couldn’t write them off – this has been no fluke.
In fact, it isn’t just Morocco’s exploits’ that stand African football in good stead for the future. Cameroon and Ghana gave impressive accounts of themselves in victories against Brazil and South Korea, both were unlucky not to get into the knockout stages of the tournament.
Tunisia would even record an unlikely win against the defending champions, France, in yet another account that the African sides could mix it with the best in Qatar.
You’d even argue that Senegal with a fully fit Sadio Mane, would’ve given England a seriously tough test in the round of 16.
Historically, the World Cup has always been for the European and South American teams. Everyone else was an after-thought, as no one could compete with the dominance of teams such as Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and Italy.
As part of the tournament’s plans to increase participants to 48 teams, Africa will now hold nine qualifying spots – a vast increase on the five places currently held.
Criticism was levelled prior to December’s tournament, regarding the way that FIFA’s expansion of the World Cup was weighted towards the African and Asian footballing confederations.
While such criticism may be fair, you cannot state that given their performances at this year’s World Cup, Africa as a continent doesn’t deserve a bigger proportion of sides at the World Cup.
