Morocco did it..The first Arab and African team to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup in history

Many political leaders, football stars and celebrities congratulated Morocco on its national team's victory over Portugal, becoming the first Arab and African team to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup in history, with a shocking 1-0 victory in the quarter-finals today, Saturday.

This World Cup will be remembered more as the Morocco World Cup than the Qatar version after the Atlas Lions beat Portugal 1-0 on Saturday to move into the last four of the competion.

No Arab team has got close to such a stage before

 Nobody can say now that Morocco are not capable of claiming the golden trophy. The question now is not if this unbelievable team, who have gone further in the tournament than Brazil, can actually lift the trophy, but who can stop them?  Not Belgium, Spain or Portugal. After five games, not a single opposition player has scored against them.

Head coach Walid Regragui and his stars will never forget Al-Thumama Stadium, a happy place where they defeated Belgium and then Canada in the group stage, and have now made it three from three. It is crazy, but they have won more World Cup games at this stadium than in their entire history in the competition.

If this was familiar territory for the team, the same could not be said of the quarterfinals, but this was a deserved win from a team that obviously knows how to defend, but are also capable of attacking at pace and with skill.

They have seen off the challenge from three major European powers, three teams seen as potential winners, and the thousands of fans in the area and millions at home have a side of which to be proud.

It was always going to be a tight affair, Portugal’s 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland on Tuesday notwithstanding. As had been mentioned time and again, the Moroccan defense had been breached just once in the eight previous games. Regragui may have been coach for just over three months, but the way the 47-year-old has organized the team, it feels like years. 

 unforgettable journey  

 Bayern Munich full-back Nasser Mazraoui did not make it and neither did West Ham center-back Nayef Aguerd. His partner in the backline, Romain Saiss, did start after a hamstring scare, but was strapped during the warm-up. It felt a little like this may be a game too far for the leader of the team.

Portugal started the brighter but could not find a way through, but as the game passed the half-hour mark, Morocco began to get on top and, suddenly, the match burst into life.

breakthrough came

With three minutes of the first half remaining, the breakthrough came, almost from nothing. Yahia Attiyat Allah, in for Mazraoui, swung over a cross from the left. Goalkeeper Diogo Costa came and got nowhere and there was En-Nesyri, leaping as high into the air as Cristiano Ronaldo did at his peak, to head into an empty net.

It was the first goal ever scored by the country in the knockout stages. As anyone who had seen any action in this World Cup would expect, the army of Moroccan fans went crazy.