Morocco’s Cinderella Run Captures Global Support in World Cup Semifinal vs France

Many neutral supporters around the world support Morocco against France for two reasons: its status as an outsider and its supporters, reports inews. In just three months, Walid Regragui, the national team coach, has done remarkable work. He has been able to motivate the 26 Atlas Lions (including 14 dual nationals) to play without complexes against the best teams. They have a formidable defense based on ruthless organization, industry and an unusual team ethic.

The result: Morocco is the first African and Arab country to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. The Atlas Lions have withstood Croatia (finalist in 2018), beaten Belgium, Canada who have returned to the World Cup 36 years later, dominated Spain (champion in 2010) on penalties (0-0, p.s. 3-0) and won against Portugal (1-0) before reaching this stage of the competition. The Atlas Lions are playing against the Blues this Wednesday, December 14.

In addition to their talent as good players, the Moroccan players can count on the support of thousands of supporters present in the stadium at each match. They turn each match played by the Atlas Lions in Qatar into a home game. Wednesday evening will resemble an intimidating away game for France. Each of their contacts will be mocked and whistled. Canada coach John Herdman had even issued warnings to Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammates before their match against Morocco, which resulted in a victory for the Atlas Lions (1-0).

"I was in the stadium playing against this Moroccan team and I’ve never felt such a crowd," he had confided to the same site. "It’s wild. From the first second and the second your team touches the ball, it feels like there are 40,000 boos - and it stays that way for 90 minutes."