SME-About Almountakhab Moroccan newspaper-Written by: Badr Al-Din Al-Idrisi
With the rapid succession of events and our national teams becoming a constant presence in international tournaments and cups, we find ourselves dwelling on the crowning of our national team as champions of the Under-20 World Cup. This was undoubtedly a historic and exceptional moment in our national football landscape. It was essential to turn the page, its images and stories etched in our memories, and focus on what lies ahead: the Moroccan Under-17 team’s participation in the World Cup finals, hosted by Qatar, starting next Monday.
Our youth team’s entry into this global football tournament, where 48 teams from across the globe will compete for the first time, has three significant dimensions. Firstly, this is the first time the youth team has participated in this World Cup, having reached the quarterfinals in the previous edition in Indonesia, where they were eliminated after a 1-0 loss to Mali.
The second dimension is that the young Lions bear the responsibility of emulating the youth team that captivated the world by standing tall at the top. This places them under positive pressure, boosting their self-confidence and opening the door to boundless imagination and dreams.
The third dimension of this tournament is that all the teams at the starting line will treat the Moroccan national team as a strong contender for the title, placing them on par with the teams accustomed to winning titles in this age group, most notably Brazil with four titles. While this expressed interest will benefit our national team, it will also add another layer of pressure.
Just as the Atlas Lions began their journey to glory by topping the “group of death” after winning their first two matches against Spain and Brazil, our youth team will begin their long journey in the Qatar World Cup by facing two strong teams, both continental champions: Portugal, the reigning European champions, and Japan, the penultimate Asian champions. Our youth team’s first-place finish in Group B, which also includes New Caledonia (the last team we will face in the group stage), will undoubtedly pave the way for achieving even better results than the quarter-final appearance reached by the previous generation of youngsters in the Indonesia tournament, including some who won the world title with the under-20 team.
Because the Moroccan winds are blowing refreshingly across the world today, and because Moroccan football, with its national teams, has risen to the forefront of the world’s footballing giants, we look forward to our young players, under the guidance of their brilliant coach Nabil Baha, reaching exceptionally high levels of confidence in their abilities. We hope they will achieve a historic World Cup in Doha, where the echoes of the Atlas Lions’ historic achievement still resonate. We don’t ask the impossible of them, because their elders have proven to the world that nothing is impossible for Moroccans. However, we ask them for composure, boldness, and collective courage to win their first challenge: advancing from the group stage with a doubled confidence. This is certainly within their grasp.
We wish our boys the best of luck in what lies ahead. They possess, individually and collectively, the qualities that enable them to connect this hopeful present with a recent past that demonstrated Morocco’s ability to break the glass ceiling and its youngsters to become world champions.
