How Morocco became the 'Rocky' of World Cup

Four times in 15 minutes Walid Regragui spoke of winning the World Cup. All were preceded by what-if or why-not but from being the only believer, the Morocco coach has got a team, a country, a continent and more thinking that way.

Dreams cost nothing, he said. But they also mean nothing without dollops of the can-do spirit and work. "The others won't give it to us… The big European countries, they like to be among themselves and win the World Cup," he said.

Appointed less than three months before the tournament began, Regragui said his first task was to weed out players for whom the World Cup was just about being there. "The guy who comes here to play three games in the World Cup and have fun can't come with me. The message was spread around my team, and in my country. Then it reached the continent. Now, I think the world is with Morocco," he said when asked about the journey from being a solitary dreamer to Pied Piper.

Since 1966, as per statistics provider Opta, no coach has been in charge of fewer games on the way to a World Cup semi-final than Regragui's eight.

Two games from realising Regragui's dream, the Atlas Lions meet France in a World Cup semi-final on Wednesday. In five previous attempts, Morocco's best in the World Cup was an 11th place in 1986, also the last time they got out of the group stages.

The first team from Africa to make the World Cup semi-finals, Morocco's has been an underdogs story, not seen since South Korea in 2002. "We are the Rocky in this tournament," said Regragui referring to the eponymous film franchise.

En route, Morocco have dealt with injury setbacks (centre-back Nayef Aguerd and left-back Noussair Mazraoui were not available) and a barrage of attacks– they have played 1613 passes in five games; Spain played 1043 against Costa Rica. In the 1-0 win against Portugal, with a low block 31% of the time and the middle block 34%, they contained a team that had Joao Felix, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes. Goncalo Ramos, the scorer of the World Cup's only hattrick got two touches in the Morocco penalty area.

But they have also hit back when they sensed an opportunity. "You can have less talent, less quality and less money, but if you have hope, work hard, fight and believe, you will be able to do anything," said Regragui. As Portugal pushed up, Morocco made more final third entries through the middle, 31%. In Azzedine Ounahi, they have a player who can dribble, only Lionel Messi has more in Ligue 1, and Achraf Hakimi, whose club mate Kylian Mbappe will now be on the other side, began the second half with a strong run that drew out Pepe. When Diogo Costa failed to collect Youssef En-Neysri leapt tallest to score.

Morocco drew against Croatia and beat Belgium, Canada, Spain and Portugal on the way to the semi-final. No team has been able to score against them; the only goal they conceded in five games was a self-goal against Canada. They have had only nine attempts on goal and kept four clean sheets. "It's not miracle, it's hard work. The top teams haven't found an antidote… It's going to be hard to beat us," said Regragui.

This is also a message to the world that Moroccans can play, said goalkeeper Yassine Bounou. "(We have shown that) Moroccan players can compete against anyone in the world. The generation after us will know that Moroccan players can do all this," he said.

Such as Yahia Attiyat Allah, Yahya Jabrane and Badr Benoun. They are not among the 14 in the squad born outside Morocco and do not play in Europe. Attiyat Allah and Jabrane are in Morocco and Benoun represents Qatar SC. "We must keep working with players born in Morocco," said Regragui.

Through their games, the chant "Sir, Sir" can be heard. "Get forward" is a loose translation and Morocco have done that in a manner that makes it scarcely believable that they were missing the next four editions of the World Cup after 1998. But it also shows how serious Morocco is about football.

Morocco has bid for every World Cup from 1994 to 2026. Since rejoining the African Union in 2017 after 33 years, Morocco has tried looking out and football has been a vehicle for that. "Since Morocco rejoined the [African Union]…they are taking positive steps to build strong ties with AU member nations," Juneidi Basha, president of the Ethiopian Football Federation, was quoted as saying in goal.com

Morocco had left the Organisation of African Unity, AU's predecessor, in 1984 protesting its recognition of Western Sahara. They returned following years of diplomatic efforts led by the king.

The state-of-the-art football training centre named after the king is the largest in Africa and is used by all of Morocco's national teams, and by teams from other countries. It cost nearly $65 million. The Mohammed VI Football Academy was set up in 2009 to help groom players. Four players here are from the academy, said Regragui. It is also mandatory for all 16 teams in the top tier of the Moroccan league to run youth development programmes.

After beating Spain, Regragui spoke of the "efforts" made over 10 years in laying better pitches and getting more professional coaches. "When you work, you are patient and the results will show on the pitch."

Results which got the king to join celebrations on the streets. The real party, though, Regragui will tell you, is yet to come.