Walid Regragui has just ended his audience with around 100 journalists in the "Press Conference Room 2" in the huge World Cup media center when a small commotion breaks out.
Many men and a few women rush forward, wanting to shake hands with the coach of the Moroccan national team, holding up shirts for Regragui to sign.
Some people take selfies while many words of thanks and support are spoken.
The Moroccans are floating through Doha on a cloud of happiness because they have the best prospects at the end of the preliminary round in their duel against Canada (4 p.m. CET, in the FAZ live ticker for the football World Cup and on Magenta TV), for the first time since 1986 in the K .-o. phase of a World Cup to move in.
There they are Germany's most likely next opponent before this last game, should national coach Hansi Flick advance with his team.
It would be a repeat of the round of 16 clash 36 years ago in Mexico, where Morocco became the first African side to progress through a World Cup group stage.
This time nobody expected such a success given the difficult opponents in a "death group" (Regragui).
But the 0-0 draw against Croatia at the start of the World Cup, which was followed by a 2-0 win over Belgium, was "a turning point in the history of Moroccan football", wrote the Moroccan news site "Medias24" and concluded: "There are now the time before Walid and the time after Walid.”
Walid Regragui also lets himself be adored in the "Press Conference Room 2", but he obviously has a certain fear of the emotions of his compatriots, who celebrated so wildly after the victory against Belgium in Brussels that the police found it necessary to use water cannons.
The coach is worried because some of the enthusiastic Moroccans are emotionally in the round of 16 while he still has one game to play with his team.
It is a complicated task, the coach said in ever new formulations: "It's a final tomorrow!
We're playing against a team that has nothing to lose!
We have to respect them!” The Canadians are already eliminated and are still waiting for their first World Cup point in their second tournament since 1986.