What our team has done is extraordinary, say Morocco fans

Abder Rahim and Abder Rahman, two Belgium-based Moroccans, have been friends for decades. They were also in the stands for all five of Morocco’s matches in Qatar, experiencing the whole gamut of emotion as their team made history by becoming the first African and Arab team to reach the World Cup semifinals.

When this reporter bumped into these two friends at the Doha City Centre Mall on Tuesday, they were desperately looking for tickets to the biggest game of their life – the Morocco vs France World Cup semifinal on Wednesday.

Seeing an unprecedented demand for tickets after Morocco’s epic run to the World Cup semifinal, the country’s football federation, in association with Fifa and Qatar’s local organizing committee, bought the unsold tickets and distributed among fans on Tuesday.

But Rahim and Rahman were not among those lucky fans that got free passes for the big game.

“We have been in Qatar since November 21. We have watched all Morocco matches, but we don’t have tickets for tomorrow,” Abder Rahim said.

“Today, our country’s football federation gave away three thousand free tickets at the Al Janoub Stadium. But it’s all finished now, we could not get them.

“Some fans were sleeping the whole night at the Al Janoub Stadium to get those tickets in the morning. It was so crowded.”

Rahim said it was natural for the Moroccans to be so emotional about their team.

“Nobody was expecting that we will reach the semifinals. I am 52 now and I never thought I will see something like this in my life. So naturally, people have gone crazy and all they want is to come to Qatar and watch the match,” he said.

“All the Moroccan people from Morocco, Belgium, Spain, USA, England, they want to come here and watch the match because they know what our team has done here in Qatar is extraordinary.

“It’s so special. It’s so special not just for the Moroccans, but for all Africans and Arabs. We have proved that even the small teams can beat the biggest teams. We have shown the entire world that yes we can do it. It’s incredible.

“You know there are many parts of my country where people are poor. But now everyone is finding a beautiful reason to be happy.”

As immigrants in Europe, Rahman says it has always been a challenge fighting the European perception of Arab people.

“Our team’s success will be a good example. In Belgium and France, they only focus on bad things. But no place in the world is perfect. Every place has its share of good and bad. Now we have shown the whole world that we can do something very good,” he said.

Regardless of the result in Morocco’s semifinal against defending world champions France, Rahim believes football in his country now will only get stronger and stronger.

“Now our team of young players have gained amazing experience. Also, we have a very good football academy in Morocco that is producing good footballers. Now it will produce even more good players and there will be more such academies in the country. They will invest more because they have seen the impact,” he said.

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Finally, the two friends appealed to fans from the western world to show ‘the real face’ of Qatar when they return to their home countries after the World Cup.

“I know how much they (the western media) criticised Qatar before the World Cup. The media was doing so many negative reports on Qatar and the World Cup. But I have met a lot of foreigners here whose experience has been entirely different in Qatar,” he said.

“They have all loved this country and appreciated the Arab hospitality. We hope that they will show the real face of Qatar when they go back home and expose the lies their media is telling.”

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