Saturday (Dec. 10th), will go down in history as the day Morocco became the First African Country to reach World Cup Semifinals. This historic feat was achieved after Morocco defeated Portugal 1-0 in the World Cup Quarter Finals.
Previously, African countries have always ended at the quarterfinals stage of the World’s most prestigious Football Tournament. Cameroon reached the quarterfinals in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.
Ghana reached the World Cup Quarter-final in 2010
Morocco’s Road to World Cup 2022 Semifinals
When the draws were made, Morocco was placed in Group F . This Group included the likes of Canada, Croatia, and Belgium. The truth is that most people predicted Belgium and Croatia to make it out of this group successfully.
Morocco proved the doubters wrong by emerging top of the group with 7 points followed by Croatia.
However, Morocco proved the doubters wrong by emerging top of the group with 7 points followed by Croatia. As if not enough, the last sixteen ties saw one of the Tournament’s favorites in the name of Spain drawn to Morocco. This surely would be the end of Morocco’s journey in the tournament, some thought.
Once again, Morocco did the impossible. The Atlas Lions held Spain in a goalless draw for 120 minutes only to triumph over them in a 3- 0 Penalty shootout.
As a result, Morocco became the fourth African Country to ever reach the quarter-final. The first to do so after 12 years Portugal was named their next opponent. And history was written once again as Youssef En-Nesyri scored the winning goal in the 42nd minute to hand Morocco victory over Portugal.
World Cup Semi-final Fixtures and Dates
Having sent England packing in a 2-1 Saturday win, France is set to face Morocco in the Semi-final. This will be on Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 22:00 EAT.
Argentina, another World Cup favorite, will face Croatia. The latter were 2018 World Cup Runners-Up. Messi will be hoping to lead Argentina to the finals. What do you think? Who will reach the finals? Let’s hear from you via the comments section below.
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