Despite suffering a 2-0 loss at the hands of France in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals on Tuesday night, Morocco fans are still rallying behind their team.
The Atlas Lions remain the only African country that is still competing in the global competition and will now face Croatia to fight for third place.
With the North Africans having travelled to Qatar to support their Moroccan heroes who became the first African side to reach the semi-finals, they backed the coach Walid Regragui and his players.
While some expressed and were visibly hurt by this defeat to the reigning world champions, it was clear they had high hopes of making it to the final to face two-time winners Argentina.
“We are a little upset, I won’t lie,” Hassan Chadilly, from Casablanca, told Al Jazeera at Al Bayt Stadium.
“After we kept winning the knockout games we had a lot of hope. Sadly we could not do it again”.
However, Chadilly said Moroccans everywhere were “very proud” of the team despite the loss to a more fancied French outfit.
“We have the most wonderful players in the world … the coach [Walid Regragui], the training staff. I will never forget being here in Qatar during such a historic time for our country”, Chadilly, who is a Dubai resident, said.
A few people could be seen jumping and shouting Dima Maghrib (Always Morocco) as they left the stadium but nowhere near with the same enthusiasm as when the Atlas Lions shocked Portugal last week, or Spain and Belgium before them.
“I was really hoping we could meet Argentina in the final…but France was better than us,” Yassine Bouziane told Al Jazeera.
“But I’m not sad, honestly. They did the best they could do. No one expected this”, the Tangier resident said. “They made so many people happy – all the Muslims around the world, the Arabs, and the people of Africa.”
Looking at social media reactions, many football fans from all over the world paid attention to the match and Entertainment SA selects some comments.
@MGKing wrote:
“Congratulations Morroco for undisputed performance…”
@OIce_Tweetz commented:
“You make Africa and the Arab Nations proud….”
@Kabenge Ahmed posted:
“Africa is proud of you MOROCCO. YOU MADE WORLD-CLASS TEAMS UNDERSTAND THAT FOOTBALL IS SHIFTING!!! You made European world-class NATIONS underdogs.”
Main Image: Morocco Fans/Al Jazeera
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