His name is Ahmed, he grew up in Germany but has come to Doha to support Morocco because the call from his roots continues to come to him more strongly from there. The story of this fan connects with that of many players of the North African team: they are united by a sense of belonging that relegates the place where they live or grew up to second place.
Hakim Ziyech, the main star, was not even born in Morocco, he was born in Dronten, a city in the Netherlands. He doesn't speak Arabic either. He plays with Morocco because he feels the flag of his parents is closer than that of the country where they settled. "It's stupid," recriminated the Dutch legend Marco Van Basten, unable to understand why Ziyech had chosen Morocco over the Netherlands. Ziyech's father died at the age of 13 of a cruel disease, sometimes his personal decisions come from the deepest and do not concern anyone else.
Ahmed did understand Ziyech the first time. Many second-generation young Europeans identify with that choice. Ahmed was desperately looking for a ticket in Doha for today's match against Spain and denounced that FIFA has lost control of the seats, favoring their sale on the black market. His Federation has finally managed to obtain 5,000 tickets from the international organization. Moroccans will be the majority in the stands. The neighbor below sometimes looks at Spain with suspicion, as their respective governments do in order to control migratory movements between the two nations. Social networks were filled with racist comments hours after learning that both teams would meet in the round of 16.
There is a latent mistrust of these young people towards Europe (not all of them, of course) and Spain is the neighbor from above. Hundreds of thousands of Moroccans chose it to live, looking for a better future. No one like the rapper Morad, born in l'Hospitalet, to embody that rabid spirit that makes his misfit for the environment, with a police record that confirms it, the raison d'être of his songs. Morocco as Valhalla.
Emotional motivations can add to Morocco's chances of beating Spain, but then there is football, and there the African team, the only one left alive in the tournament, by the way, has plenty of talent. The warning has already been given: they erased De Bruyne's Belgium from Qatar and qualified as the first group. Success is not accidental.
"We are going to kill ourselves for the people of Morocco," says Munir El Kajoui, a goalkeeper who is competing with Bono from Sevilla to gain a place in goal. In the defensive line, Achraf Hakimi stands out, a right-back who, at the age of 24, has already passed through several clubs of the European aristocracy, specifically Real Madrid, Inter and PSG. And in front, in addition to Ziyech, a talent that exploded at Ajax and continues at Chelsea, is En-Nesyri, also a Sevilla player. The competition is such on the offensive line that Abde, a Barça promise who is having a great season at Osasuna on loan for one season, barely has minutes. Abde by the way also chose Morocco even though he grew up in Elche since he was a child.
The coach who has given a collective sense to this group of good individuals is Walid Regragui, born in France in 1975 but of Moroccan origin. Soccer fans with a very good memory will remember him because he played for Racing de Santander for two seasons as a right-back. Of course he was international for Morocco. Regragui has starred in a strange case. He has only been in a position for six months from which the Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic was invited to leave, among other things due to disagreements precisely with Ziyech. Regragui's career on the bench was forged in his country, directing FUS Rabat and Wyad Casablanca. He also tried it in Qatari Al Duhail. He has returned to that country to try to take Morocco further than ever in a World Cup. He never got past the round of 16.
