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“Perhaps we will never experience this again”: in Doha, the Moroccan public is swimming in a dream

A flocked “Overdose” jersey dances in the middle of an ecstatic crowd. The crackling flashes bounce off jubilant faces. It is 9:16 p.m. this Tuesday in Doha (Qatar) and a question arises on the forecourt of Education City. If football is the opium of the people, then what kind of addiction would Morocco be in this World Cup?

36 years ago, Morocco tasted the flavor of a round of 16 for the first time. That year, in 1986 therefore, little Hafit was born incidentally in the suburbs of Casablanca. This evening, history has just been written again before his bewildered eyes. “Now I can die in peace,” whispers this man who is already thinking of booking a fourth Casa-Doha round trip.

Fallout of Spain on penalties (0-0, 3-0 pens), the Atlas Lions have just achieved the greatest sensation of the tournament so far. And there is nothing artificial about this paradise. After Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010, a fourth African nation reached the quarter-finals of a World Cup.

If the football planet trembled in Doha, it is indeed the Maghreb which jumps for joy and all the Arab world which exults. From Tunisia to Algeria via the London diaspora, all were present for this legendary qualification. “I don’t have the lyrics. I am very proud of the supporters, of the national team. We transmit joy. Everywhere in the Arab world, in Moroccan youth, ”says the Londoner Jalal, who left the stadium among the first, as if to regain his emotions.

“We really had a feeling that something big was going to happen”

Next to him, Ilyas has two black marbles instead of eyes. The din heard throughout the game and escalated to an insane level during the final session is enough to stir an eight-year-old child. “It’s historic,” says his mother. All three, with the dad, come from Dubai. “It was totally worth it. Maybe we’ll never go through that again, him either, she said, pointing to her little one. “Noise level, we would have won in any case, continues the dad. We play at home in this World Cup. »

(From left to right) Siham, Ilyas and Mehdi, after Morocco qualifying at Education City Stadium.

That’s it, madness gives way to something else. A mixture of calm and end of fever. Those still present in the Moroccan park are gradually coming back to earth. For Yasser, it’s not just an expression. Expatriated to Canada for 22 years, he picks up, like many others, the waste sown around him in the stands.

Yasser and Karims, two Moroccans who became friends in Canada.
Yasser and Karims, two Moroccans who became friends in Canada.

“There is a positive energy with this team and this coach, he takes the time to tell us, a flag on his forehead as a bandana. We believed in it from the start. We may not have expected so much, but we really had a feeling that something big was going to happen. »

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