Macron personally bid. If Morocco wiped out the French,

Can Morocco beat France to enter the championship and runner-up finals and even win the first World Cup for Africa in one fell swoop?

Text | sea passengers

In 2022, the top four in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 have been decided. Argentina, Croatia, France-these are frequent visitors to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Argentina and France are two-time world champions; Croatia has been qualified for the World Cup since 1998. It was the third place in the World Cup that year and the runner-up in the last World Cup in Russia.

On February 6th, 65438, Moroccan team members spit out head coach Walid Regragui to celebrate after the game. Photo: Xinhua News Agency.

It is surprising that only Morocco can enter the semi-finals. In addition, entering the semi-finals after defeating Portugal not only shattered Cristiano Ronaldo's dream of the World Cup, but also inspired the whole of Africa.

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In Haisir's view, it is of epoch-making significance for the Moroccan team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. African teams have never reached the semi-finals before. The African teams that once reached the quarter-finals were Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 20 10. Morocco entered the World Cup semi-finals for the first time, and it was also the first time that an African team entered the World Cup semi-finals.

Looking back at the history of the World Cup, the Moroccan team has twice completed an epoch-making move in Africa-

First, Mexico 1970 World Cup, Morocco became the first African team to advance directly to the championship through the qualifiers. Only Egypt participated in the second World Cup of 1934 before, but it was not qualified at that time. After the war, Africa had to share its qualification with other continents, but it failed to win. Until 1970 World Cup, Africa finally got the direct promotion places in the qualifiers. Morocco, which can be grouped with West Germany, Bulgaria and Peru, failed to make it to the bottom.

Morocco 1970 World Cup

Second, 1986, Morocco made a comeback. The World Cup was actually held in Mexico. Morocco beat England, Poland and Portugal to advance to the second round. This is the first time that an African team has advanced to the second round of the World Cup. It is worth noting that Morocco defeated Portugal 3-0 at that time.

Third, in this year's FIFA Qatar 2022 World Cup, Morocco defeated Portugal again, achieving a historic breakthrough. What a coincidence.

1986 Mexico World Cup, Morocco beat Portugal.

Today, Morocco defeated Portugal. Portuguese star cristiano ronaldo left the Atumama Stadium with tears in his eyes. After the game, he posted on social media that his dream of winning the World Cup for Portugal was shattered.

For the Portuguese international, who was born in Madeira Island on the west coast of Atlantic Africa, there is obviously no hope for him to participate in the next World Cup at the age of 37.

Cristiano Ronaldo said that his dream of winning the World Cup has "ended". Photo: ABC report screenshot

Compared with Brazil's "alien" Cristiano Ronaldo and "Ronaldinho" Ronaldinho, this man who was once called "Ronaldinho" won the Golden Globe Award five times and participated in five World Cups, but he never won the title of world champion in his life. This is indeed the cruelty of the World Cup.

However, think about the Welsh "Great Sage" Bell, who is also a top player in the world, but because of the overall strength of the team, he didn't taste the World Cup until he was 33 years old this year.

Should Ronaldo regret for a lifetime? Or do you want to be a coach in the future to realize your dream? He has his own choice. Anyway, at present, fans, especially Moroccan fans, are more concerned about-can Morocco go further?

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Morocco's next opponent is France. Can you beat France to enter the championship and runner-up finals and even win the first World Cup for Africa in one fell swoop? Before the start of the competition, what is actually more worthy of attention is the dialogue between North African countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and European countries on the northern shore of the Mediterranean-

Before this, Morocco, which has already eliminated Spain and Portugal, can expand the list of people who lost to it from Iberia Peninsula to the French Plain? Morocco used to be a colony of France, so in the battle between Morocco and France, there is a high probability that players from both sides can talk in French.

On February 6th, 65438, Moroccan goalkeeper Bunu saved a shot from Spanish player busquets in a penalty shoot-out.

After beating Spain to advance to the quarter-finals, some media reported that the car of King Mohammed VI of Morocco also took to the streets to celebrate the victory. And if Morocco can beat France, it is hard to imagine how crazy this country will be.

When the Moroccan team and the French team entered the semi-finals, Mr. Liu Fang, a friend of Haisir and a Suzhou writer, commented on the upcoming game like this.

"A brief look at cultural history is not only a dialogue across the Mediterranean, but also a cross-examination of conquest and anti-conquest. This game is better, but also with your eyes and your heart! "

Don't the French value this game? Of course!

Long Guanwu will go to Doha to watch the battle between France and Morocco: screenshot of RMC report.

French media RMC reported that French President Macron was preparing to leave for Doha to watch the fighting between France and Morocco.

In Haisir's view, Macron paid a little to watch this kind of war.

Don't think that France has a laissez-faire attitude towards its former colonies. For example, after the explosion in Beirut in August 2020, Macron flew directly to Beirut to express condolences to the civilians there. Why? A big reason is that, historically, Lebanon was once a colony of France.

From a certain point of view, for example, suppose it is the Africa Cup, maybe many French people will support Morocco! However, this mentality itself harbors a kind of thinking of former colonists looking at former colonies.

In August 2020, Macron expressed condolences to the people of Beirut.

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There is another aspect of Morocco's match against France-the problem of naturalized players or overseas nationals. 1998 France won the World Cup. For example, in that team at that time, the captain Zidane was a descendant of Algeria in North Africa. In the past 20 years, players of all nationalities and colors have shuttled in the French team. Many European teams saw the success of the French team and followed suit. For example, England, Spain and Portugal all recruited African-American and South American players.

65438+February 10, Moroccan player Seth was injured in the game and was carried off. Photo: Xinhua News Agency.

What about now? European teams are indeed recruiting all kinds of naturalized and overseas players. But on the other hand, African teams have also taken action-as many as 16 of Morocco's 26-man World Cup are blood naturalized players. Among them, 14 were not born locally, except for 3 1 year-old goalkeeper Bunu who won the match between Moroccan Football Association and Canadian Football Association, and the rest 13 were distributed in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy.

Why are these players living in Europe and America willing to join African teams?

Roughly speaking—

First, although Europe is one of the most developed football regions and the continent with the largest number of participants in the World Cup, the number of teams is still limited, in other words, the number of national teams is also limited.

Second, with the continuous improvement of African football, more African players, including African-born players and African-American players born in Europe, are willing to play for the African national team.

Third, a stage like the World Cup is something that many excellent athletes are unwilling to give up. This also makes all kinds of domestication "popular all over the world". For China, we should also see our hope from the success of Moroccan football. As early as the 1970s, China and Morocco had football exchanges.

The People's Daily published a report on July 2 1 0973.

1In July, 973, the football team of Beijing Institute of Physical Education arrived in Morocco for a friendly visit, and played friendly matches with Moroccan National Hope Team and Rabat Football Team in Casablanca and Rabat respectively. At that time, the scores were 2- 1 and 4- 1 respectively, and the Beijing Institute of Physical Education team won.

1In July, 1982, the Moroccan football team came to Beijing to participate in the third Beijing International Football Invitational Tournament and won the championship. It was the same team that later participated in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and advanced to the second round.

The People's Daily published a report on July 3 1 0982.

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