{"id":11875,"date":"2022-12-07T14:38:39","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T14:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain"},"modified":"2022-12-07T14:38:39","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T14:38:39","slug":"moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain","title":{"rendered":"Moroccans celebrate ‘historic’ World Cup win over Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>With shouts, songs, cries and tears, Moroccans exploded with joy Tuesday as their football team beat Spain to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time.<\/b><\/p>\n

“There were millions behind Morocco – this team represents a spirit, a union,” said Imad Ait Ounejjar, from a noisy, crowded restaurant in the coastal city of Casablanca.<\/p>\n

“This victory is for Morocco, Africa, the Arab world and all the nations that believed in us. We are proud to be Moroccans,” added the young man, who works as a project manager.<\/p>\n

Morocco is the last remaining team from Africa and the only Arab team left in Qatar and will face Portugal in a quarter-final on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“I can’t believe it, this team is performing miracles! It’s so beautiful!” said Lamia Afria, 24. “I feel proud, we did the unthinkable.”<\/p>\n

For the loyal supporters of Morocco’s team – dubbed the “Atlas Lions” – it was a dream come true after long years of waiting and frustration.<\/p>\n

Supporters, both men and women, wrapped in red national flags or wearing the team strip, kept up a solid chant of support for their sporting heroes.<\/p>\n

After the victory, the crowd chanted as one: “Next!” and then “Always with Morocco.”<\/p>\n

Morocco are just the fourth African team to reach the last eight of the World Cup – after Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.<\/p>\n

Before Tuesday’s game, Morocco’s best result at the football World Cup had been in 1986, when they reached the last 16.<\/p>\n

Neighbouring derby<\/b><\/p>\n

The epic duel took on the appearance of a derby: mainland Spain is only some 14 kilometres (nine miles) from Morocco, visible across the Strait of Gibraltar at the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n

But beyond the sporting clash, Rabat and Madrid share common interests, including economics, as well as the fight against irregular immigration.<\/p>\n

After a diplomatic quarrel lasting almost a year over the issue of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, Spain and Morocco drew a line under the spat in mid-March.<\/p>\n

Several Moroccan internationals play in the Spanish league, including striker Youssef En-Nesyri and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, for Sevilla, forward Ez Abde at Osasuna, and defender Jawad El Yamiq at Real Valladolid.<\/p>\n

National team star Achraf Hakimi, whose chipped kick settled the penalty shootout for Morocco, was born in Madrid and has played for Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

But the Atlas Lions have also won hearts outside Morocco, with scenes of jubilation erupting in Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian enclave of Gaza after the kingdom’s group matches.<\/p>\n

Palestinian supporters even improvised a song in honour of the Moroccan team.<\/p>\n

Morocco’s players unfurled a Palestinian flag during their on-pitch celebrations after their stunning World Cup victory.<\/p>\n

Even in a context of acute tension between Morocco and neighbouring North African nation Algeria, football has managed to bridge a gap.<\/p>\n

“Your brothers and neighbours are with you,” wrote Algeria’s DZfoot Twitter account, which has more than one million followers.<\/p>\n

Several Algerian internationals also praised the Moroccan feat on social media.<\/p>\n

“Far from all the hateful and malicious trolls of social networks, the Algerian people are behind the Moroccan people”, DZfoot added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eritrea<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. With shouts, songs, cries and tears, Moroccans exploded with joy Tuesday as their football team beat Spain to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time. “There were millions behind Morocco – this team represents a spirit, a union,” said Imad Ait Ounejjar, from a noisy, crowded restaurant in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[242,243,233,1070,1075,1059],"class_list":["post-11875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea","tag-fans","tag-qatar-world-cup-2","tag-world-cup-2022-in-qatar"],"yoast_head":"\nMoroccans celebrate 'historic' World Cup win over Spain - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moroccans celebrate 'historic' World Cup win over Spain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Eritrea. With shouts, songs, cries and tears, Moroccans exploded with joy Tuesday as their football team beat Spain to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time. “There were millions behind Morocco – this team represents a spirit, a union,” said Imad Ait Ounejjar, from a noisy, crowded restaurant in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-07T14:38:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Moroccans celebrate ‘historic’ World Cup win over Spain\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-07T14:38:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain\"},\"wordCount\":546,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670411348.05.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\",\"fans\",\"qatar-world-cup\",\"World Cup 2022 in Qatar\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/moroccans-celebrate-historic-world-cup-win-over-spain\",\"name\":\"Moroccans celebrate 'historic' World Cup win over Spain - 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