It’s a great joy when a dream comes true. But how does it feel when a dream you didn’t even see comes true?
Finding the answer to this question is very easy. One only needs to ask a Moroccan footballer!
If not a footballer, one could also ask anyone from the legions of Moroccan fans that have come to Qatar. Right now, the Moroccans are nearly everywhere in Doha. Souq Waqif, the impromptu convergence place for all fans in the Qatar World Cup, is currently chock-a-block with Moroccans. They are all singing and dancing while waving their national flag.
The word Souq means market. That’s enough information to understand what type of a place Souq Waqif is. There are rows full of shops, where anything and everything is sold. There are beautiful, well adorned stores as well as tiny, scrappy shops. A narrow road with clothing stores on both sides, much like Dhaka’s Banga Bazar. However, there are two plazas on either side of the market. That is where I saw a Moroccan celebration on Sunday evening.
The hotel which has been my ‘home’ for the past 33 days during the World Cup also has many Moroccan guests. From their points of view, I have seen the mood of this World Cup change in the past few days.
On the day of Morocco’s opening match, I saw them happy just for the fact that Morocco has made it to the World Cup. After they progressed to the second round as group champions from a group that consisted Belgium and Croatia, I heard them say that they have nothing else to ask for. Morocco has already won the ‘World Cup’.
After winning against Spain in the second round and defeating Portugal in the quarterfinal, the same supporters are now saying, “Why can’t we win the World Cup?”
From the cluster of Moroccan fans at the hotel lobby, a 25-year-old youth reminded me, “You are a journalist. You surely know that no team has so far managed to score against us in the World Cup.”
I had to prove if I knew the fact that Morocco has conceded only one goal in five matches in this World Cup, and that too from an own goal.
Nobody knows which moment will become the lasting image of this World Cup. So far, whenever an image has stood out, another has emerged to put it in its shadow.
Neymar and Ronaldo’s tearful exit, Harry Kane’s distraught look after missing the penalty is still fresh in everyone’s memory. Each of those images has layered meanings.
Whether or not Neymar will play in a World Cup again is uncertain. However, there is very little doubt over the fact that Ronaldo has already played his final World Cup. Their teary-eyed photos could end up being their final image in a World Cup.
Neymar exited after equaling Pele’s record as the highest ever goal-scorer for Brazil. England’s Harry Kane also got eliminated after equaling the record for England’s highest goal scorer.
Kane, however, had a golden opportunity to surpass that record. The ramifications of his missed opportunity are much more significant than just missing an individual milestone.
In spite of playing well, England had to say goodbye after losing to France. However, in a departure from the norm, no one from England is blaming Kane for the missed penalty. Instead of asking for the resignation of England coach Gareth Southgate, former England players are asking him to extend his contract till the next Euro Championship.
Neymar, Ronaldo, Kane- in every World Cup many such moments are captured on frame. But has Morocco surpassed all of them and created the everlasting images of this World Cup? The picture of Moroccan midfielder Sofiane Boufal dancing with his mother on the field, Morocco’s goalkeeper Yassine Bounou celebrating with his son after beating Portugal to reach the semifinal are worthy contenders for that honour.
Before Morocco, three African countries have played at the quarterfinals of the World Cup- Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. This is the first time a representative from Africa has made it to the semifinal.
The significance of Morocco’s dream run doesn’t end just there. At the first ever World Cup in Arab soil, the Moroccans are waving the Arab flag.
Their semifinal opponents are France, the same France which had colonised Morocco for a long time. So, the France-Morocco semifinal has surpassed the dimensions of a mere football match in terms of significance and has a much larger context.
Morocco’s qualification to the final four has added an extra coat of colour in the World Cup and has turned this tournament into an actual ‘World Cup’.
Four years back in the Russia World Cup, all four semifinalists were from Europe. Here, the four semifinalists have come from three different continents. Along with Europe, there is South America and Africa.
For example, the first semifinal will be a battle between Europe and South America. Messi’s Argentina will be up against Modric’s Croatia.
Adidas introduces a new ball ahead of every World Cup. In the Qatar World Cup, there will be two official balls in a World Cup for the first time. Till now, the matches were being played with the ‘Al Rihla’ ball. Al Rihla means ‘the journey’. The semifinals and the final will be played with the ‘Al Hilm’ ball which means, ‘the dream’.
The Moroccans surely must love the name of the new ball. For them, this World Cup also has the same name, “The Dream!”
*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy