Faces of Football: Morocco – a letter to the national team
Morocco
A letter to the Moroccan national team for the 2022 World Cup.
Dear Moroccan National,
I am Nabil Hamdaoui, also known as Nabil Skily or as Nabil Au Brésil, and like most Moroccan children of the 80s, I grew up with Diego Maradona’s Argentina, Roberto Baggio’s Italy, Ronaldo’s Brazil, the France of Zinedine Zidane and above all the Morocco Hadji of Mustapha , Noureddine Naybet and Salaheddine Bassir.
Though I was only two and too young to remember, I was there for our 1986 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match, the first for a North African country. My elders told me of the joys of that tournament and also of the 1976 Africa Cup of Nations when Ahmed Faras led the country to its first continental title.
The first tournament I remember was the 1998 World Cup, and what a bittersweet tournament. We got knocked out in the group stage, but came so close to the round of 16. We would have made it even if Brazil hadn’t suffered a surprise defeat against Norway on the final matchday. It broke my heart but I was very proud of my country who gave their all in France.
The enthusiasm and pride for our national team has always been very strong. We inherited it from previous generations who got a taste of glory in football’s golden era and while we haven’t climbed that high since then, the hope has remained because we’ve always been able to produce at least one or two real top players.
From 90s legends I grew up with like Salaheddine Bassir, Noureddine Naybet, Mustapha Hadji to this new generation of Hakim Zyech, Youssef En-Nesyri, Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi we always had great players but often lacked team spirit and units to make the most of these talents. Russia 2018 was a great example of that because it took a while for us to really grow together as a team and that’s why we got knocked out in the group stage.
I hope this World Cup in Qatar is different and we can show on the world stage that we really have what it takes. It’s been a long time since we’ve done really well in a World Cup – since 1998 – but we’ve always believed that Morocco has the potential to do great things again in a big tournament if they have the right players and the right ones has team spirit. I hope now we have both.
This year’s tournament is crucial for us as a nation. We have to put behind us the managerial changes and internal problems the team has been struggling with and do well to show the world who we really are.
We are Morocco.
We live for football.
We celebrate the team from the bottom of our hearts, on and off the pitch.
Let’s do it step by step and make our country proud match by match.
We trust you. We love you.
This article was originally published on 90min.de as Faces of Football: Morocco – a letter to the national team released.
