Where will the Moroccan selection stop? Sensation of the last World Cup in Qatar, after its fourth place and its exploits against Belgium, Spain and Portugal, it won Saturday for the first time in its history against Brazil (2-1). This friendly match played in Tangier, in front of 65,000 crazy supporters, allows Morocco to continue its excellent dynamic, eight months before the next African Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire.
“I’m in a dream, Brazil is the first team in the Fifa ranking, the country of football. It somewhat confirms our World Cup,” exclaimed Walid Regragui during the post-match press conference. “But the road is long, we must not ignite” to reach new heights, warns the Moroccan coach. The Atlas Lions opened the scoring through the former Angevin Sofiane Boufal, now at Al-Rayyan (1-0, 29th). Then joker Abdelhamid Sabiri (Sampdoria) validated Morocco’s prestigious victory with a volley under the bar (2-1, 79th), while Casemiro had equalized twelve minutes earlier.
“We played against a great team”
It is therefore the first time that Morocco has emerged victorious from a confrontation with Brazil after two defeats in 1997 (0-2), and a year later (0-3) in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup in France. . For this international recovery, Walid Regragui relied on the framework that hoisted Morocco to the semi-finals of the World Cup, with in particular Hakim Ziyech, Azzedine Ounahi, Noussair Mazraoui, Sofiane Amrabat and Achraf Hakimi, replaced at the start of second period.
Deprived of Neymar, Marquinhos and Richarlison injured, the Seleçao had a difficult evening in Tangier, while it still has not found the official successor of Tite. “It’s obviously not the expected result, but we played against a great team,” sums up Ramon Menezes, the usual coach of the Brazilian U20s, who is currently acting as head of the Seleçao. This Moroccan “great team” will continue Tuesday in Madrid with another friendly match, much less flashy, against Peru.
