It has not but been determined if Argentina‘s Lionel Messi will obtain a long-awaited dream or if France’s Kylian Mbappe will win his second World Cup earlier than 24-years-old.
But whatever the outcome within the World Cup last on Sunday, Qatar National Day, Arabs can rejoice their greatest end in World Cup historical past, as two groups gained bragging rights of defeating each the 2022 world champions and runner-up.
Morocco exceeded all expectations and have become the primary Arab and African crew to succeed in a World Cup semi-final after three wins and overthrowing giants Belgium, Spain and Portugal, earlier than stumbling in opposition to the defending champions France.
Morocco‘s fairytale marketing campaign ended on Saturday, with a 2-1 loss to Croatia in third-place playoff.
“If someone had told me before the tournament that we would play seven matches in Qatar, we would have been happy,” Morocco coach Walid Regragui informed BeIN Sports.
“All Moroccan, African and Arab people have seen how this team fought and wanted to make the country happy … We will try to return after four years,” added the 47-year-old coach, who solely took cost in August.
Morocco defeated second-ranked Belgium, surprised 2010 champions Spain in a penalty shootout within the final 16, and continued their spectacular run with a 1-0 win in opposition to 2016 European champions Portugal.
But optimistic outcomes weren’t restricted to the Atlas Lions.
Though Morocco was the one Arab nation to cross the group stage, even the exit of Saudi Arabia and Tunisia got here after two shock wins.
SAUDI SHOCK
The exception was Qatar, who turned the second host nation to exit from the primary spherical after South Africa in 2010.
Saudi Arabia achieved one of many greatest ever surprises in World Cup historical past, once they got here again from behind to win 2-1 in opposition to Argentina, who took the lead via Messi’s penalty.
As for Tunisia, they defeated France, albeit the Europeans had a reshuffled lineup with Mbappe solely approaching in its place.
“The Tunisian national team’s victory over France will be in history books,” stated Khalil Belhaj, a 41-year-old Tunisian fan.
“However, Tunisia’s victory over France remains a moral victory against a team who secured qualification and played with a reserve team.”
Before the Qatar match finals, Arab groups had received 10 out of 73 matches, through eight completely different groups, whereas this time they achieved half that quantity once more: 5 wins in 16 matches.
Arabs achieved their earlier greatest outcomes when Tunisia beat Mexico 3-1 in 1978, Algeria surprised West Germany 2-1 in 1982, Morocco defeated Portugal 3-1 in 1986, and Saudi Arabia beat Belgium 1-0 in 1994.
Along with Morocco, Arab groups had been beautifully supported on the Middle East’s first World Cup.
It will take one other 4 years to see if Arab groups can obtain comparable outcomes, however maybe after FIFA’s determination to extend the variety of taking part groups from 32 to 48, they are going to have a greater likelihood when the United States, Canada and Mexico host the following version in 4 12 months time.
