The incredible dream continues and Morocco is on fire after the qualification of the Atlas Lions in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, a sensational feat never before achieved by an African or Arab team.
After their victory against Portugal (1-0), outpourings of joy flooded the streets in Rabat, Casablanca but also in Paris, Tunis and Algiers.
"My heart will stop, what a team, what endurance, what an achievement!" Ilham El Idrissi, a 34-year-old Casablancan, told AFP hotly, overjoyed.
"I think I'm daydreaming. Pinch me! What immense pride, the Lions were there, I thank them from the bottom of my heart", abounds Mouad Khairat, 29, executive in a center of 'call.
"The Moroccan team has managed to do the impossible. We want the cup now."
Once again, it is becoming a habit, collective celebrations greeted the final whistle, from north to south of the kingdom, even in the most remote provinces.
"There is nothing impossible in football, it's the magic of this sport," ex-Moroccan international Abderrazak Khairi, the main architect of his country's surprise victory against the club, predicted to AFP. same Portuguese opponent (3-1) at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
"We want the cup now"
Never before has an African or Arab country managed to get past the quarter-finals.
Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 had failed at the gates of the final four of the most prestigious tournaments.
"The Moroccan team has managed to do the impossible. We want the cup now," says Ali Gyme, 24.
"For the second time in four days, Morocco is writing the most beautiful page in its history. And this time, it's also the biggest on the African continent. It's no longer a tournament... it's an epic “, immediately commented Wiloo, a user, on Twitter.
The dream continues for the Atlas Lions but also for all Moroccans.
"Football seems to have transcended the borders of sport to tread the perimeter of the immanent", expounds this week the editorialist of the weekly TelQuel.
It is true that the epic of the Atlas Lions now involves a whole people, fanatics of the "beautiful game".
In Casablanca, the temple of Moroccan football, the national team jerseys and the red flags with the green star are everywhere in the windows, the stalls, the markets.
The enthusiasm is such that the first giant frescoes have already been painted with the effigy of Hakim Ziyech and coach Walid Regragui, raised to the rank of national hero.
However, he took over the reins of this team less than three months before the start of the competition after the ousting of Vahid Halilhodzic.
In Paris, Moroccan youth in the front row
Beyond the borders of the kingdom, France is not to be outdone.
The young supporters of Morocco expressed their joy on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as soon as Morocco's victory was known.
Posted in front of a fast food establishment, on "les Champs", around forty young Moroccans - boys and girls - had watched the match on their mobile phones, counting down the last seconds: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 , 0...
At the final whistle, they exploded with joy.
"It's a source of great pride, it's the first African country to have arrived there," exults Maamar, 27, who waves a Moroccan flag but says he himself is of Algerian origin.
"It's a great pride for all Arab countries, for all of Africa," he insists.
"It's nice: now whatever happens we are in the four best teams in the world".
A large number of young women were present, such as Dounia, a 23-year-old Franco-Moroccan, for whom this qualification for the semi-finals is simply "tremendous".
"Besides, today is my birthday, I couldn't have had a better present. I hope we'll play against France, it's everyone's turn to get the cup!".
Often waving the Moroccan flag - red with a green star - but sometimes also that of Algeria, Syria or Palestine, singing songs in Arabic, the happy supporters were only beginning to arrive, around 6:00 p.m. among the many tourists strolling on the avenue this winter Saturday evening and sometimes unaware that a match had just ended in Qatar.
Gendarmes equipped with anti-riot shields, mobile brigades made up of pairs on motorcycles, law enforcement trucks parked everywhere... An important security device had been deployed preventively, to manage the reactions to the quarter-final matches of the day, Morocco-Portugal and France-England.
Pride in Africa and the Arab world
Elsewhere, the Moroccan team has also thrilled the African continent and the Arab world.
From Gaza to Tunis via Algiers or Dakar, the successive victories of Morocco have united the supporters who push with one voice behind the Lions.
"It's the World of regained pride. That of the voiceless who cry out their joy, expunge their frustration in front of a regained visibility, a rehabilitated self-love. The catharsis is total", still speaks TelQuel.
After Morocco's surprise triumph over Spain, Al Jazeera spoke of "the wave of euphoria" that carried the Arab world.
“Cheers rang out from Tunis, Beirut, Baghdad, Ramallah and other cities as Arabs gathered to rejoice in the largely unexpected victory over Spain – a contrast to the political disputes that have long divided nations Arabs", opines the Qatari television site.
With AFP
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