The Moroccan team, one of the revelations of the World Cup after going first and undefeated in the group stage, has aroused great expectations in their country, but also in Qatar, where tens of thousands of Moroccans have traveled to try to witness the match live. Round of 16 match against Spain.
The fans of the 'Atlas lions' will undoubtedly be the majority in the stands of the Ciudad de la Educación stadium, which has a capacity for 44,667 spectators. The luckiest have obtained one of the precious tickets for the duel against 'la roja', some of them distributed for free at the embassy of the Maghreb country in Doha.
Given the great demand, the Moroccan Federation obtained another 5,000 tickets last Sunday, but they will be insufficient to supply the Moroccan tide displaced to Qatar. "We could fill several stadiums. There is madness in Morocco with the game," said Moroccan coach Wahid Regragui in the round of 16 preview.
The Moroccan flags and shirts are present in the streets of the cities of Doha, also in the subway and in the vicinity of the stadiums. In addition, to the large number of North African fans is added the support of local fans, since Morocco is the only country with an Islamic culture that is still in contention in the World Cup.
The expectation is maximum for a Moroccan team that will play the round of 16 of a World Cup against Spain for the second time. The first time was in the 1986 edition in Mexico, where they also went first in their group and later fell in the second round by the minimum against Germany (0-1).
For their part, Luis Enrique's pupils arrive at the match as favourites, despite the doubts raised in the defeat against Japan, and there will be some 5,000 fans in the stands who will have to make themselves heard to counteract the majority Moroccan fans, also very present in the Spanish streets. 776,000 Moroccans reside in Spain, which is the largest foreign community on Spanish soil.
