By Adeola Akanbi
Morocco is the first African country to make the semifinals of the World Cup, but how did they accomplish it?
The farthest African country reached the quarterfinals before Qatar hosted the world cup.
Cameroon lost in extra time to England in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and Senegal in 2002, Ghana in 2010 were the closest African countries have gone to make it past the Quarterfinals.
Morocco, in 2022 surprisingly earned the right to rewrite history with a maiden semifinal appearance, the continent’s first at the World Cup
But, what are the bedrocks of this remarkable feat? A strong back line, fast counterattacks and tactical insights were the fundamentals behind the fairytale.
The defense that has been largely coordinated by Captain Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd at the center and the likes of Achraf Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui at fullbacks have contributed to the defense that has conceded once in five games.
Yassine Bounou continued to make headlines in Qatar after another calm performance against the Portuguese and was the hero in the last 16 penalty shootouts against Spain.
The midfield duo of Azzedine Ounahi and Sofyan Amrabat have been tremendous in dictating the tempo of the games and are already contesting the breakout player of the tournament.
The attacking trio of Sofiane Boufal, Youssef En Nesyri, and Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech, who returned to the team for the World Cup hasn’t been firing as Morocco is the team with the least goals scored among the Semifinalists.
Yet, they have combined well to produce some deadly counterattacks to put their opponents’ defense in difficulties.
The master plan was the result of the tactical insights from Walid Regragui.
The Moroccan was appointed in August and continues to achieve the extraordinary with his players in Qatar.
No matter what happen next, Morocco has made history at this tournament and has already beaten big internationals in Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. They would be worthy finalists who are daring to dream.
