London - Who would have thought that the Al Thumama stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday would sow the ambitious green shoots of a great new era and powerhouse of the beautiful game on the continent of Africa?
When Morocco beat Portugal 1-0 in the quarter-final of the Fifa World Cup 2022 to reach the semi-finals against France this Wednesday, it became the first African, Arab and Muslim majority nation to do so in the history of the tournament, whose self-serving bosses only granted Africa a guaranteed place at the event in 1970, following a boycott by the African nations of the 1966 World Cup in England.
When the “world’s richest person” Elon Musk tweets “Congrats Morocco”, then you know that you are making waves and breaking glass ceilings.
Whether Fifa’s experimental new expanded format for the World Cup 2026 hosted by North American troika – the US, Canada and Mexico – featuring 48 nations, an increase of 16 on the 32 teams that participated in Qatar, is motivated more by commercial self-interest, or a genuine strategy to leverage the rampant global progress of football, only time will tell.
The fact that 10 African nations will participate in the 2026 tournament is good news for African football which has been sidelined for decades by Fifa and its feckless administrators.
African football is intrinsically linked to the politics of identity, race and colonial experience, which in the first quarter of the 21st Century despite the kicking out racism campaign, notions of closet white supremacy and misogyny from the beautiful game, continues to fester.
Make no mistake that Morocco’s win against the Portuguese was somehow a fluke!
Let us all celebrate the ginormous achievements of “Dima Maghrib (Forever Morocco)”, at Qatar 2022. Not only did the Lions of the Atlas defeat Portugal, they also sent Belgium and Spain into an early exit from a tournament of which all three countries were regarded as potential winners.
The historical irony that commonly dare not speak its name is that the three countries were some of the most brutal colonial powers, especially in North, West and Central Southern Africa.
With England, the largest colonial power in Africa, eliminated by France, the most strident colonial power in Francophone Africa especially the Maghreb and Sahel regions, Team Morocco may have an added atavistic incentive to beat the French in the second semi-final to clinch a place in the final either with Argentina or Croatia, and win the coveted Jules Rimet trophy for Africa for the very first time.
That dream has a chance of turning into reality next Sunday. Morocco winger Sofiane Boufal, speaking to French TV channel TF1 after the defeat of Portugal, spelt it out: “It’s crazy.
We’re living the dream and we don’t want to wake up. Everything we have, we deserve. We work hard. It’s not over. There’s still the semi-final and, god willing, the final.”
That self-belief, work ethic, doggedness and super-organised defence is a made-in-Africa phenomenon personified and drilled into his players by Morocco’s softly spoken inspirational head coach Walid Regragui.
To think that he only took charge of the national team last September underlines the emergence of an exciting cohort of outstanding highly qualified new African coaches, which also include Senegal’s Aliou Cissé, Algeria’s Djamel Belmadi, Tunisia’s Radhi Jaidi and our own Benni McCarthy.
It is no coincidence that the 2022 World Cup was the first time all five African nations had African coaches.
On the plane to Doha, Regragui stressed to the man that they are going to Qatar not simply to make up the numbers for the three first round matches, but for the whole hog right to the final.
His attempt to exorcise his team from that perennial inferiority complex that African teams are not good enough and cannot progress beyond first-round matches, seems to have worked.
This despite Morocco missing West Ham’s Nayef Aguerd, Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui and losing captain Romain Saiss to injury early in the second half.
Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou in his post-match remarks was to the point: “We are here to change the mentality and get rid of the inferiority.
“Morocco is out to face anyone in the world, beyond the semi-finals and anything else. We have changed this mentality, and the generation coming after us will know Moroccan players can create miracles. We’re not here just to be in the competition. We’re here to win.”
Regragui’s mission is to “write the (football) history for Africa”, a sentiment that has been brewing for decades.
The great Pele way back in 1974 first predicted that an African team would win the tournament before the year 2000, only to upwardly revise it to 2010.
How poignant that at World Cup 2010 in South Africa, it was the sensational Shakira who wowed the world with her Fifa anthem Waka Waka This Time for Africa, voted as the catchiest and most popular World Cup anthem ever!
Alas neither Bafana Bafana nor any other African aspirant could oblige.
The sight of Sofiane Boufal dancing on the Al Thumama stadium pitch with his hijab-clad mom; PSG’s Achraf Hakimi kissing his mom after the Portugal game; substitute Achraf Dari celebrating by draping himself in a Palestine flag; the Moroccan team making the Sujood (prostration) in front of their fans en masse; and the sporadic exuberance of young Moroccan fans in Belgium, Holland and Portugal which led to clashes with the police, suggests a landscape of cultural diversity, ethnic tensions, certainty of religiosity, strong familial and heritage dynamics, and a profound love for football often draped in national pride.
Right-wing politicians across Europe were quick to spread pictures of the clashes and the resulting damage, suggesting it was a sign of failed integration.
The reality is that there are 5 million Moroccans living abroad, of which the majority are in Western Europe including Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Spain.
When Moroccan Youssef En-Nesyri headed the only goal of the match against Portugal in the 42nd minute, little did he realise that its impact would go well beyond football.
Whether a pan-Africanist or merely a football fan, Morocco’s victory in the light of the ongoing impact of pandemics, fuel and food disruptions largely due to the Ukraine conflict, and the global cost-of-living crisis due to rising prices and high inflation, is a much-needed moment of collective euphoria and pride for the Maghreb region and Africa.
Regragui is sanguine about fate and his winning strategy: “If you put in the heart, desire and humility you make your own luck. The energy from the African and Arab people gave us good vibes. We have shown people African teams can get to the semi-final, even the final.
Earlier in the tournament, I was asked if we can win the World Cup – why not?
“Why shouldn’t we dream?”
Parker is a writer based in London
Cape Times
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Independent Media or IOL.