Morocco's amazing march lacks touching the "bronze"... the greatest achievement in the Arab world, Africa and Asia

The Moroccan national team is looking forward to ending its amazing career in the FIFA World Cup, which is currently being held in Qatar, by achieving another unprecedented achievement in the history of the World Cup.

The Moroccan national team seeks to become the first Arab and African team to win the bronze medal in the history of the World Cup, when it faces Croatia, tomorrow, Saturday, in the match for third and fourth places, at (Khalifa International Stadium).

In the event that it wins the bronze medal, the Moroccan national team will be the first team from outside the continents of Europe and South America to win a medal in the history of the World Cup, the first edition of which was launched 92 years ago.

The United States and South Korea qualified for the semi-finals in the 1930 and 2002 editions, respectively, in the World Cup, but the American team did not play the match for third place, while the Korean team settled for fourth place, after losing 2/3 to its Turkish counterpart.

And just as the Moroccan national team opened its fictional career in the current version of the tournament, which is being held for the first time in the Arab world, by meeting the Croatian national team, it is now preparing to conclude this journey by facing the same competitor.

The two teams met in the opening round of Group Six last November 23, at Al-Bayt Stadium, where the confrontation between them ended in a draw without goals, so that the conflict between them is repeated now in the third-place match.

This is the seventh edition in the history of the tournament and the second in a row during which two teams meet twice in one edition of the World Cup, far from those other meetings that were repeated because they ended in a tie, as before the application of the extra time system or penalty kicks in the World Cup, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) Football "FIFA" relies on replaying matches that end in a tie in normal time, in order to determine the team that qualifies for the next round.

The last edition, which was held in Russia in 2018, witnessed the last repeated confrontation between the same two teams, when Belgium and England met in the group stage, as well as in the third-place match, to match this scenario with the Qatar World Cup 2022.

The Moroccan national team hopes to return the smile to the Arab fans who felt With sadness mixed with pride, after the team lost 0/2 against France in the semi-finals.

The Moroccan national team was a true match for its French counterpart (the defending champion), and was not affected by the early goal scored by its opponent in the fifth minute through Theo Hernandez, as the team of national coach Walid Rakragui imposed control over the course of affairs in most of the events of the match, but the recklessness of his players in front of the goal caused In wasting more than one realized opportunity, the valor of the French national team’s defense and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris prevented the (Atlas Lions) from scoring the net, before the second goal of the (Roosters) team came 11 minutes before the end of normal time.

Despite the loss, the Moroccan national team topped the headlines of international newspapers, which praised the performance and courage of its heroes, not only during the confrontation with France, but also in the team's journey in the World Cup, which witnessed the presence of the first Arab and African team in the golden square of the tournament.

Regragui seems keen to become the first Arab or African coach to lead his team to a bronze medal in the World Cup, where he said, "We will try to finish the tournament in third place. It was important to present a good face of Moroccan football and we proved that we are not far from this level." Global".

The Moroccan coach added, "It will be difficult on the mental and physical levels, given the injuries we suffered during our career in the World Cup, and we will give the opportunity to players who did not participate in the previous matches."

The curse of injuries haunted a number of the stars of the Moroccan national team in the tournament, as the most prominent victims were Roman Sayess (team captain) and Naseer Mazraoui, who were unable to complete the match against France, as well as Nayef Akrad, who missed the past two matches after being injured in the Spain round of 16 match.

The most optimistic fans of the Moroccan national team did not expect before the start of the tournament the wonderful march of the team in the World Cup in Qatar, which will always remain immortal in the minds and hearts of the Arab masses, so that the (Atlas Lions) raise the ceiling of the ambitions of the Arab teams in full in the upcoming editions of the World Cup.

Morocco topped the table with 7 points, after beating Belgium and Canada and drawing with Croatia, before ousting Spain, the 2010 World Cup champion, on penalties after they tied without goals in the regular and extra time.

The Moroccan national team continued its surprises after defeating its Portuguese counterpart 1-0, led by its veteran star Cristiano Ronaldo in the quarter-finals, but collided with the French team in the semi-finals, whose stars' experience led them to the final match.

For his part, the Croatian national team, which is in the golden square of the World Cup for the third time in its history and the second in a row, aspires to obtain third place as well.

The Croatian national team won the bronze medal in the 1998 edition of the competition in France, before surprising everyone in the last edition by finishing second, after losing 2/4 to France in the final, under the leadership of its current coach, Zlatko Dalic.

Dalic stressed that his team's next confrontation against Morocco will be completely different from the first meeting that took place between them in the group stage, as he made it clear in statements to the official website of the Croatian Football Association that his country was determined to win the meeting.

Dalic, who has been in charge of the Croatian national team since 2017, confirmed, "The Moroccan national team was the surprise of the World Cup. It knocked out many major teams (Belgium, Spain and Portugal), and we can only respect it."

The Croatian national team qualified for the knockout stage in the current World Cup, after finishing in second place in Group F standings with 5 points, as it tied with Morocco and Belgium negatively, while beating Canada 4/1.

The Croatian national team defeated its Japanese counterpart by penalty kicks in the round of 16, after the original and extra time of their match ended in a 1/1 draw, to then eliminate the Brazilian team in a heavy-caliber surprise with the same scenario in the quarter-finals.

The Croatian's ambitions stopped at the borders of the semi-finals, after its harsh 0-3 loss against its Argentine counterpart, to fail to achieve the dream of its fans to reach the final match in the World Cup for the second consecutive edition.

The match between the Moroccan and Croatian teams in the group stage was the second between them at the official and friendly levels, as it was preceded by another meeting that brought them together in the King Hassan II International Friendly Championship in 1996, which ended in a 2/2 draw, before the European team won 6/7 on penalties.

It is noteworthy that FIFA assigned the management of the match to the Qatari referee, Abdul Rahman Al-Jassem, who is assisted by the duo, Talib Al-Marri and Saud Ahmed, while the Brazilian Rafael Klaus will be the fourth referee.

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• Morocco,

• croatia,

• World Cup 2022