Morocco carried by an entire nation<\/p>\n
There were early doubts about Morocco\u2019s performances at the start of the tournament, questions that lingered until the hosts delivered a convincing 2-0 win over Cameroon<\/a> in the quarter-finals. Since then, the picture has sharpened.<\/p>\n If Morocco\u2019s journey to the final can be reduced to a single word, it could be experience.<\/p>\n Walid Regragui and his captain, Achraf Hakimi<\/a>, have repeatedly returned to that theme. Years of navigating high-stakes matches at club level and on the international stage have given this squad a sense of control, not just over games, but over moments. Morocco rarely look hurried. They understand when to slow the tempo and when to strike.<\/p>\n \u201cWe might give the impression that we\u2019re growing into the tournament,\u201d Regragui said before the semi-final against Nigeria, \u201cbut it\u2019s mostly that we\u2019re starting to have experience of this kind of competition.\u201d<\/p>\n That composure was evident again in their semi-final against Nigeria in Rabat. Morocco dominated possession, dictated the rhythm and, although they required penalties to progress, their passage to the final was neither fortunate nor forced.<\/p>\n Hakimi echoed that sentiment after the match.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re happy and proud,\u201d he told\u00a0beIN SPORTS.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no words. But the job isn\u2019t finished. We knew Nigeria had big qualities, but defensively we were solid and didn\u2019t allow them chances. With the ball, we created opportunities. We didn\u2019t score, but we stayed focused throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n Morocco\u2019s strength arguably lies in their balance. They have yet to trail at any point in the tournament and have conceded just once, with centre-back Nayef Aguerd and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou central to that solidity. In possession, they are comfortable controlling games, resisting pressure and waiting for moments of incision through Brahim Diaz, Neil El Aynaoui and Abde Ezzalzouli<\/a>. The overlapping runs of Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui stretch opponents on both flanks.<\/p>\n Threats come from all across the pitch. And when momentum dips, Morocco can still call on something few teams possess: a home crowd that fills every lull with noise, belief and urgency, turning Rabat into a pressure cooker and offering the hosts a twelfth man when it matters most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Morocco carried by an entire nation There were early doubts about Morocco\u2019s performances at the start of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-241498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}