Izuchukwu OkosiMorocco ‘flew Africa’s flag high’ on Tuesday evening at the Education City Stadium in Doha as they beat 2010 World Cup winners Spain on penalties to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament where they will face Portugal on Saturday.
The round of 16 game had ended scoreless even after 120 minutes of football before the contest was settled on penalties with the Atlas Lions winning 3-0.
Other African representatives barring Senegal, had been eliminated at the group stage albeit the African champions, were easily sidestepped by England 3-0 on Sunday.
Morocco in the round of 16 game stepped up and stifled the ‘tiki-taka’ passing game of Spain who made over 1,000 passes but lacked the killer instincts to get over the finish line.
Morocco players defended stoutly and never let the reputation of their opponents intimidate them.
The north Africans topped a Group F that contained Croatia, Belgium and Canada thus joining Nigeria to become the African teams to have achieved that feat after the Super Eagles’ USA ’94 and France 98 showings.
READ ALSO: Morocco Upsets Belgium, Top Group F Ahead Croatia Game
Morocco also became the fourth African country after Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana to reach the quarterfinals stage of the World Cup and will be looking forward to going one step further in getting to the semifinals.
The team will battle for a chance to advance to the ‘last four’ where France or England await them.
Morocco’s splendid performance have made a significant impact on the game in Africa.
The continent hopes to have more slots at the next edition of the FIFA World Cup in 2026 to be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and USA.
Currently, there are five representatives for Africa but ahead of the 2026 World Cup, there are expectations that Africa will have nine (9) guaranteed representatives with an option for one more place via an intercontinental playoffs.
The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) are looking to expand the number of teams at the mundial from 32 to 48 which means that more teams will be in action when it rolls around.
The Morocco triumph over a former world champions in Sapin coupled with the wins of all the other African sides over their opponents notably Tunisia’s win over world champions, France ,and Cameroon’s win over Brazil (the first time an African side will defeat the South Americans) will only go a long in convincing African players in diaspora born in other climes that there is indeed a future and merit in playing for the country of their origin.
African football have improved in term of conveyance of talent production but poor administration and corruption are still issues within the game that need to be nipped in the bud.
The confidence to play the best teams in the world will hopefully not be an issue for teams from Africa at the World Cup again. All thanks to Morocco and the support cast of African nations in Qatar 2022.
Morocco have in no small way made this a buge possibility.
Special appreciation will go to Ghana, Cameroon, Tunisia and Senegal all made it a memorable experience for the continent.
Morocco however has certainly taken it a notch higher.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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