I'm no fan of soccer but this after all, is the World Cup. And I love the fact that small soccer countries - Morocco and Croatia - have made it to the semi-finals.
How great would a final of Morocco vs. Croatia be! Of course Morocco would have to beat Argentina, and Croatia would have to beat the the current title holder France... Both I'm sure are long shots.
Here are the Morocco vs. Portugal highlights - only four minutes long (proving that soccer is - mostly - boring).
Cool article here; look at the countries Morocco beat to get this far -
Morocco added Portugal — and its superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo — to the list of major European nations it has unexpectedly dumped out of the Cup. Having never previously been in contention for soccer’s biggest prize, Morocco is just one game from a place in the final, after dispatching the likes of Belgium, Spain and now Portugal without allowing them a single goal.
“Pinch me, I think I’m dreaming,” Yassine Bounou, the Morocco goalkeeper known as Bono, said after the game. “These moments are great, but we’re here to change the mentality. With this feeling of inferiority, we have to get rid of it. The Moroccan player can face any in the world. The generation coming after us will know we can create miracles.”
Players from Africa and the Arab world have long played in soccer’s upper-tier leagues in Europe and elsewhere, and like many athletes who hold citizenship in more than one place, many are playing on teams other than the one where they were born. But national teams in Africa have struggled to make a mark late in the tournament until now.
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The next step of Morocco’s magical journey will come against France in a semifinal game Wednesday, setting the former colony against its former colonizer.
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Portugal simply could not get the ball to break for it. But in one first-half moment, Morocco did. In the 42nd minute, Yahia Attiyat Allah sent a hopeful crossing pass in front of the Portuguese goal. The ball hung in the air for what seemed like an age, before the tall striker Youssef En-Nesyri, timing his run to perfection, headed it in a fraction of a second before the goalkeeper Diogo Costa could get his hand on it.
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