{"id":23794,"date":"2022-12-18T08:46:57","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T08:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss"},"modified":"2022-12-18T09:21:45","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T09:21:45","slug":"we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroccans, had pressed their snooze buttons to allow the dream to linger a bit longer, stretching it for the extra minutes of that final hurrah.<\/p>\n

Morocco had already exceeded expectations by reaching the World Cup semifinals at Qatar 2022, beating Belgium, Canada, Spain and Portugal along the way.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening, between them and Argentina at Lusail Stadium, stood another giant of world football: two-time winners and reigning champions France \u2013 arguably the biggest, sternest and truest test of whether Qatar 2022 was a dream or reality for Morocco.<\/p>\n

Since beating Belgium, Morocco hoped for a last-16 slot. Expectations grew when they beat Spain. Fantasy gave way to belief after beating Portugal. But on Wednesday at Al Bayt Stadium \u2013 maybe due to the introduction of a new football, the occasion or just the gulf in skills between the two sets of players \u2013 the dream did not materialise in the way Morocco wanted.<\/p>\n

A French masterclass on the pitch ensured the Atlas Lions will not finish higher than third in the World Cup. \u201cThis is football, that\u2019s how it works,\u201d Fatima, a Moroccan supporter, said after the 2-0 loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re really proud of the team. Moroccan football has totally changed now. This is not a loss, no way. We are the champions. \u201d<\/p>\n

As the final whistle blew, a team huddle took place in the middle. The French team celebrated their progress to a second successive final. Morocco, meanwhile, soaked in what they had achieved: glory, respect and unprecedented heights.<\/p>\n

There were shouts of \u201cMorocco, Morocco\u201d and \u201cseer, seer\u201d (go, go) from the stands, although not in unison like the previous matches. While some made an early exit, the majority in red and green stayed back, applauding the players who performed one last prostration in prayer on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cProud, proud, proud. That\u2019s how I\u2019m feeling right now,\u201d Amine, another Moroccan supporter, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey made history, they\u2019re still a young team and now we have ambition for future world cups. We\u2019re not going to give up now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a change of a mindset, there\u2019s a winning mentality instilled in the players, the team and the country now. This will change our future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201d For Youssra, it was the performance and not the result on the pitch that made her cry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit emotional but not disappointed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing so far. We\u2019re super happy and super proud. They\u2019ve made history. They\u2019re fighters.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re supporting them till the end, no matter what. \u201d \u201cMy parents are from Morocco so I was supporting Morocco tonight. They did something great. They showed the world that a team from Africa can really achieve something great.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Mauritius. Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroccans, had pressed their snooze buttons to allow the dream to linger a bit longer, stretching it for the extra minutes of that final hurrah. Morocco had already exceeded expectations by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":23793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11,17],"tags":[233,245,241,514],"class_list":["post-23794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-photo","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-mauritius","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroc ...\" \/>\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\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroc ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-18T08:46:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-18T09:21:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-18T08:46:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-18T09:21:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss\"},\"wordCount\":497,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Mauritius\",\"World Cup\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"photo\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss\",\"name\":\"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss - Mauritius\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-18T08:46:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-18T09:21:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroc ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\",\"name\":\"Mauritius\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss - Mauritius","description":"Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroc ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss","og_description":"Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroc ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss","og_site_name":"Mauritius","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-12-18T08:46:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-18T09:21:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss","datePublished":"2022-12-18T08:46:57+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-18T09:21:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss"},"wordCount":497,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Mauritius","Mauritius","World Cup"],"articleSection":["all news","photo","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss","name":"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss - Mauritius","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-18T08:46:57+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-18T09:21:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Wednesday evening at Al Bayt Stadium was the extension of a dream for Morocco. Fans across the world, and not just Moroc ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671340839.60.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/we-are-the-champions-morocco-fans-proud-despite-world-cup-loss#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018We are the champions\u2019: Morocco fans proud despite World Cup loss"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/","name":"Mauritius","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}