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Mustapha Hadji, the Moroccan football team’s assistant coach and former international footballer, said that his squad has become part of the kingdom’s football history after they made it against Ivory Coast on Saturday’s World Cup qualifier.
Hadji has said it in an interview with British news outlet The Guardian. Speaking about the Moroccan passion for football, the former Moroccan star said that “after Islam, football is our second religion.”
“Morocco loves the game and is a real football country,” he added. Only football fans can explain how exciting it is to show support for their favorite football teams. Like any sport, the game arouses indescribable emotion, excitement, and passion.
“Football is magic. it can do things that no other sport can,” Hadji told The Guardian. “It can make you cry in one second and make you feel in love the next. Politics cannot do that.”
Hadji expressed his aspirations out loud to the world, expecting the Moroccan team to end the World Cup qualifier’s last phase with a positive result that would make the current Moroccan team remembered for a long time.
“The players know they have a great opportunity to become part of Morocco’s football history and only they can make that happen,” the former footballer added. Hoping to book a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Hadji said that “if we qualify, everyone will remember [the Moroccan football team] for many years to come.“
The assistant coach stressed that Moroccans have been waiting for this chance for a long time. For Hadji, time has come to make the dream come true. “It would be the first time we have qualified since [King Mohammed VI] came to the throne so we will try to do it for him.”
Morocco’s qualification will be “the best gift we can give if we make it,” since “the Moroccan people have been waiting for this for a long time – rich people, poor people, the guy on top of a mountain with his sheep.”
Every single competition is an important phase for any team and footballer. For Hadji, the World Cup tournament is a special event for any team wishing to represent its country in the best way.
“You can play in the Premier League of Champions League but the World Cup is something else,” said the former midfielder. “To play for your country is the best level anyone can reach.”
“We have to do it not. We cannot just try,” he added.
Morocco has previously participated four times in 1970, 1986, 1994, and 1998 World Cup.
It is 31 years now since the Moroccan football team became the first Arabic and African team to qualify for the second round in the World Cup finals, despite facing strong squads, including England and Portugal. When Atlas Lions arrived in Mexico that year, “they did so with a formidable squad,” according to FIFA.com.
